Vestcor Inc Invests $1.02 Million in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 111,514 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,020,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 88.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 237,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,398,000 after acquiring an additional 111,596 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,501,000 after buying an additional 478,560 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 72.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 148,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,519,000 after buying an additional 62,233 shares in the last quarter. Choreo LLC lifted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 54,024 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $484,000 after buying an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,802,000 after buying an additional 344,694 shares in the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:PDM opened at $7.13 on Friday. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.13 and a 52 week high of $11.12. The company’s 50 day moving average is $8.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. The company has a market cap of $886.70 million, a PE ratio of -11.32 and a beta of 1.25.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.86% and a negative return on equity of 4.82%. The company had revenue of $143.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.16 million. Equities analysts predict that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 7.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio 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.