Capital Investment Counsel LLC Raises Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Capital Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. Digital Realty Trust comprises 1.3% of Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Capital Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $7,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Digital Realty Trust during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. American Capital Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Private Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the second quarter worth about $27,000. Gradient Investments LLC increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 177 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Finally, Adirondack Trust Co. raised its position in Digital Realty Trust by 68.6% during the 3rd quarter. Adirondack Trust Co. now owns 199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DLR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. HSBC raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “reduce” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $124.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Argus cut shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $170.37.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

DLR opened at $189.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $62.97 billion, a PE ratio of 159.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $169.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $156.43. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $130.00 and a 1 year high of $193.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.61 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). The firm had revenue of $1.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.43 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.24% and a net margin of 8.04%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 410.08%.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.