Digital Realty Trust Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Investors bought 9,739 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 241% compared to the typical volume of 2,857 put options.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

DLR traded up $1.66 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $158.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,914,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,842,287. The business's 50-day moving average price is $151.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $146.59. Digital Realty Trust has a 12 month low of $113.94 and a 12 month high of $162.58. The stock has a market cap of $49.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.54, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.63 by ($1.43). Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 5.93% and a net margin of 20.58%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.38 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.68 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was down .7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 13th will be given a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 13th. Digital Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 135.56%.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In related news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.26, for a total transaction of $90,156.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,055 shares in the company, valued at $1,360,604.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of DLR. Norges Bank bought a new position in Digital Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at $2,141,890,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 543.6% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,447,340 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $220,068,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773,591 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 48,503,593 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $6,986,458,000 after purchasing an additional 951,567 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Digital Realty Trust in the fourth quarter worth about $107,372,000. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 15,105.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 795,830 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $121,006,000 after purchasing an additional 790,596 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DLR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $150.00 to $175.00 in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $122.00 to $120.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 26th. Argus downgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Monday, July 1st. They set a "buy" rating and a $175.00 price target on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $154.00.

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.