Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM - Free Report) by 164.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 272,302 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 169,454 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.22% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $1,914,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of PDM. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 694.5% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 590,715 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,153,000 after buying an additional 516,367 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 15.1% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 231,239 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,626,000 after buying an additional 30,377 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 67.6% in the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 70,701 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 28,507 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 37.5% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 830,402 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,755,000 after buying an additional 226,611 shares during the period. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the first quarter worth $122,000. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com raised Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 4.4 %

PDM traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $8.74. 785,542 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 841,816. The stock has a market cap of $1.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.33 and a beta of 1.21. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $4.91 and a fifty-two week high of $8.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.90 and a quick ratio of 1.90. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $7.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.97.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.22) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.61). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.29% and a negative net margin of 12.90%. The company had revenue of $144.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $143.41 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 23rd will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.72%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio is currently -81.97%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Company 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.