Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) Short Interest Up 8.7% in December

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,990,000 shares, an increase of 8.7% from the November 30th total of 6,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,950,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DLR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $177.00 to $207.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. TD Cowen increased their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $185.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $157.00 to $178.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $171.68.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total transaction of $471,873.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 3,836 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 3.2% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 3.1% in the third quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $334,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 14.3% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $85,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 1,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $176,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE DLR traded up $1.11 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $177.33. 1,434,047 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,871,554. Digital Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $130.00 and a 52 week high of $198.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $183.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.41. The stock has a market cap of $58.82 billion, a PE ratio of 149.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.97 and a beta of 0.62.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.67 by ($1.58). Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 8.04% and a return on equity of 2.24%. The company had revenue of $1.43 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.43 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 6.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $1.22 dividend. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is presently 410.08%.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.