Prudential Financial Inc. Grows Stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 34.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,719,332 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 699,339 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 2.19% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $24,882,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PDM. Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 4th quarter worth approximately $345,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the fourth quarter worth $246,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the fourth quarter valued at $572,000. Summit Global Investments acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $530,000. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 84.1% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 39,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 18,240 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE PDM opened at $7.37 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $7.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.99. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $6.27 and a 52-week high of $11.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $916.03 million, a P/E ratio of -11.70 and a beta of 1.25.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.82% and a negative net margin of 13.86%. The business had revenue of $143.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.16 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.78%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently -79.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PDM has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Baird R W lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 17th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust 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.