Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $10.88, but opened at $10.54. Piedmont Office Realty Trust shares last traded at $10.55, with a volume of 131,603 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PDM has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price target (up from $10.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, August 14th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Down 2.6 %

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.28. The firm has a market cap of $1.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.23 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.08) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.37 by ($0.45). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.84% and a negative net margin of 14.24%. The business had revenue of $143.26 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $141.25 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 38.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,654 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 1,288 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 34.8% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 1st quarter worth about $73,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at about $76,000. Finally, Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

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.