Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. (PDM) – What Are Investment Firms Thinking About This Stock?

Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, two have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $10.75.

PDM has been the topic of several analyst reports. Freedom Broker raised shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Zacks Research raised shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th.

Insider Activity at Piedmont Realty Trust

In related news, CFO Sherry Rexroad sold 4,446 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $39,169.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 53,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $474,480.17. This represents a 7.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in PDM. Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust by 36.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 39,831 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 10,570 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc increased its stake in Piedmont Realty Trust by 161.4% during the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 133,319 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after purchasing an additional 82,314 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust by 34.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 9,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,000 after acquiring an additional 2,436 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust by 7.3% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,078,622 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,600,000 after purchasing an additional 72,942 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Piedmont Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $406,000. 84.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Piedmont Realty Trust Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE:PDM opened at $9.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.02 and a beta of 1.41. Piedmont Realty Trust has a twelve month low of $6.32 and a twelve month high of $10.23. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $9.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.40, a current ratio of 1.40 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.17) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $151.24 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $146.80 million. Piedmont Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 15.18% and a negative return on equity of 5.98%. Equities research analysts expect that Piedmont Realty Trust will post 1.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Realty Trust Company Profile

Piedmont Realty Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns, manages and leases office properties in the United States. Its portfolio is focused on high-quality office buildings, with related services that include property operations, tenant support and leasing. The company concentrates its portfolio in select markets, including Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando and Minneapolis. Piedmont Realty Trust is headquartered in Atlanta and is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Brent Smith.