Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.22 on May 30th

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 15th will be given a dividend of 1.22 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, May 30th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.29%.

Digital Realty Trust has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.2% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Digital Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 375.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Digital Realty Trust to earn $7.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.9%.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DLR opened at $92.22 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The stock has a market cap of $27.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.08, a PEG ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $102.67. Digital Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $85.76 and a 52 week high of $141.77.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by ($1.46). The company had revenue of $1.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.41 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 7.61% and a return on equity of 2.34%. Digital Realty Trust’s quarterly revenue was up 18.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.67 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on DLR. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $119.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $115.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 21st. Credit Suisse Group lowered their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $81.00 to $80.00 and set an “underperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $79.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Monday, May 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $116.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Digital Realty Trust news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.47, for a total transaction of $146,205.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $991,854.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.47, for a total transaction of $146,205.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,176 shares in the company, valued at $991,854.72. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dyer Corey sold 4,401 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.19, for a total transaction of $458,540.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,026 shares in the company, valued at $3,128,408.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.41% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DLR. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.5% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 20,131,762 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,979,148,000 after purchasing an additional 96,038 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,032,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $591,734,000 after acquiring an additional 24,736 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at $442,477,000. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,359,489 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $437,126,000 after purchasing an additional 603,337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.4% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,494,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $343,592,000 after purchasing an additional 15,485 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.00% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

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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.