Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Sees Large Volume Increase

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) saw unusually-high trading volume on Wednesday . Approximately 2,610,019 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 187% from the previous session’s volume of 910,427 shares.The stock last traded at $6.93 and had previously closed at $7.05.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $7.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $6.87.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.61). The business had revenue of $144.54 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $143.41 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.29% and a negative net margin of 12.90%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 24th were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.03%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 23rd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently -81.97%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of PDM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $9,642,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 86.6% in the 3rd quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 1,695,612 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,529,000 after purchasing an additional 786,699 shares in the last quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 34.5% in the 1st quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,597,119 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $18,258,000 after purchasing an additional 666,145 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 111.7% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,035,019 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,817,000 after purchasing an additional 546,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 694.5% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 590,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,153,000 after purchasing an additional 516,367 shares in the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Company Profile

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc (also referred to herein as "Piedmont" or the "Company") (NYSE: PDM) is an owner, manager, developer, redeveloper and operator of high-quality, Class A office properties located primarily in major U.S. Sunbelt markets. The Company is a fully-integrated, self-managed real estate investment trust ("REIT") with local management offices in each of its markets and is investment-grade rated by Standard & Poor's and Moody's.