Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Sets New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $6.19 and last traded at $6.31, with a volume of 65826 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $6.68.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Down 6.1 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.45 and a 200-day moving average of $8.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.39 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.69 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released 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. The business had revenue of $143.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $142.16 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.82% and a negative net margin of 13.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 8.19%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -79.37%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 88.7% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 111,596 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position 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. Choreo LLC lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 54,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $484,000 after acquiring an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilsey Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,953,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,175,000 after acquiring an additional 77,220 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

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.