Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Shares Bought by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM - Free Report) by 55.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 276,391 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 98,589 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.22% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $2,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of PDM. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 88.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,398,000 after buying an additional 111,596 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $15,501,000 after purchasing an additional 478,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 72.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 148,046 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,519,000 after purchasing an additional 62,233 shares during the last quarter. Choreo LLC boosted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 54,024 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilsey Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,953,542 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,175,000 after purchasing an additional 77,220 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on PDM shares. StockNews.com upgraded Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, February 17th. Robert W. Baird decreased their price objective on Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Truist Financial reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $10.00 target price (down previously from $11.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock traded up $0.19 on Wednesday, hitting $6.86. 90,318 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 833,488. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $5.81 and a 52-week high of $11.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.22, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The stock has a market cap of $853.44 million, a P/E ratio of -10.89 and a beta of 1.21. The firm's 50-day moving average is $7.02 and its 200 day moving average is $8.53.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37. The company had revenue of $143.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $142.16 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.86% and a negative return on equity of 4.82%. Equities analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.29%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -79.37%.

About Piedmont Office Realty Trust

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.