Short Interest in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Declines By 29.5%

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a drop of 29.5% from the February 13th total of 2,710,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 775,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.5 days. Currently, 1.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Office Realty Trust

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PDM. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 809.2% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 3,955 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 3,520 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 1,666 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 6,004 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $55,000 after acquiring an additional 1,216 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $59,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 4th quarter valued at about $76,000. 84.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Remove Ads

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of PDM traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $7.37. The company had a trading volume of 623,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 759,767. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $6.13 and a 1-year high of $11.12. The stock has a market cap of $915.41 million, a PE ratio of -11.69 and a beta of 1.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.07. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37. The firm had revenue of $143.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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%. Research analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Investors of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.79%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 21st. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's payout ratio is -79.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on PDM. Baird R W lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. StockNews.com raised Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Truist Financial reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down from $11.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.