Motley Fool Asset Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Motley Fool Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 11.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 874 shares during the quarter. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $1,122,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 196.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 900 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $121,000 after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 318,782 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,902,000 after purchasing an additional 5,949 shares during the period. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,196,000. Syon Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $225,000. Finally, Lyell Wealth Management LP lifted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,507,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on DLR. Citigroup boosted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $125.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Digital Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $155.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $144.00 target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Friday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.33.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

NYSE:DLR traded up $1.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $142.85. 1,798,142 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,956,292. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $141.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.68. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $86.33 and a 52-week high of $154.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $44.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 48.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.54.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were given a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 164.31%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.50, for a total value of $494,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,224,091.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.39% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.