Sandy Spring Bank Increases Stock Holdings in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 158 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Digital Realty Trust were worth $520,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 4,843,432 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $783,812,000 after purchasing an additional 117,461 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 501.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,326,914 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $700,224,000 after purchasing an additional 3,607,802 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,950,237 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $700,486,000 after purchasing an additional 79,322 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,632,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $644,196,000 after purchasing an additional 122,090 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Digital Realty Trust by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,451,440 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $262,522,000 after purchasing an additional 134,228 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on DLR. Citizens Jmp upgraded Digital Realty Trust to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Barclays lowered their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $142.00 to $139.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com cut Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $185.00 to $194.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.95.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $150.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $162.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $169.77. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $135.54 and a one year high of $198.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.75 billion, a PE ratio of 93.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.07.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $1.46. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.97% and a net margin of 10.85%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. Digital Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 301.23%.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming.