Legal & General Group Plc Trims Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,873,949 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 768,794 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.17% of Digital Realty Trust worth $686,967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,453,186 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,124,193,000 after acquiring an additional 469,823 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Digital Realty Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $3,858,428,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Digital Realty Trust by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,527,649 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,508,612,000 after purchasing an additional 281,704 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,950,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $700,486,000 after purchasing an additional 79,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 18.4% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,905,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $692,630,000 after purchasing an additional 607,132 shares during the period. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of DLR opened at $137.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $156.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $169.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 84.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.92. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1-year low of $133.20 and a 1-year high of $198.00.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $1.46. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.97% and a net margin of 10.85%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on DLR. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank upgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $208.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $185.00 to $194.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $211.00 to $177.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $184.33.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

Digital Realty Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming.