Wellington Management Group LLP Decreases Stock Position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Wellington Management Group LLP cut its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM - Free Report) by 30.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,560,617 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 668,677 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.26% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $15,762,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDM. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 32,994 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 3,394 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 38.3% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,654 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Scharf Investments LLC increased its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 17.9% during the second quarter. Scharf Investments LLC now owns 18,460 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $134,000 after purchasing an additional 2,802 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 680,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,935,000 after buying an additional 33,916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 5.2% in the second quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 537,732 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,899,000 after purchasing an additional 26,415 shares during the period. 84.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, November 1st.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $9.36. 482,695 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 858,619. The stock's fifty day moving average is $9.88 and its 200 day moving average is $9.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a current ratio of 2.22. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 1 year low of $5.93 and a 1 year high of $11.11. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a PE ratio of -15.10 and a beta of 1.20.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.46). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. The business had revenue of $139.29 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $143.56 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.43 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 22nd. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.34%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -80.64%.

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.