Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) was the target of a large decline in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 1,910,000 shares, a decline of 29.5% from the February 13th total of 2,710,000 shares. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 775,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE PDM traded up $0.19 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $7.33. 697,690 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 758,797. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $7.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $9.10. 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 capitalization of $910.81 million, a P/E ratio of -11.63 and a beta of 1.25. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 52-week low of $6.13 and a 52-week high of $11.12.

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

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 21st were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -79.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

PDM has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price objective (down from $11.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Baird R W cut Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, February 17th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at $222,000. Metis Global Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the third quarter worth about $129,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $258,000. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $123,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 47.6% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,069,508 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,802,000 after buying an additional 344,694 shares during the period. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.