Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Baird R W

Baird R W cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Thursday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of PDM opened at $8.76 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $9.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $9.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a PE ratio of -14.23 and a beta of 1.19. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 12-month low of $5.93 and a 12-month high of $11.11. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.46). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $139.29 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.71%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -80.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 1.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,217,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $32,499,000 after acquiring an additional 48,944 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,719,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,467,000 after purchasing an additional 14,831 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,501,000 after purchasing an additional 478,560 shares during the period. Systematic Financial Management LP increased its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 1,162,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,742,000 after purchasing an additional 47,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,802,000 after buying an additional 344,694 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

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.