Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $8.84, but opened at $8.50. Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares last traded at $8.60, with a volume of 66,395 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Baird R W cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird downgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.20 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $9.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $9.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22.

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

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 22nd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is -80.64%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 88.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after buying an additional 111,596 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 16.7% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 400,977 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,050,000 after buying an additional 57,347 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,501,000 after buying an additional 478,560 shares during the period. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 7.0% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 53,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 3,496 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 72.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 148,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,519,000 after buying an additional 62,233 shares during the period. 84.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Piedmont Office Realty Trust

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.