The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Stock Position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 46,090 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,311 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust were worth $334,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PDM. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 2.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 19,219,805 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $135,115,000 after acquiring an additional 394,282 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.3% in the first quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 4,631,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,558,000 after purchasing an additional 14,784 shares during the last quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 50.2% in the second quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,899,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,274,000 after buying an additional 1,302,681 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 0.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,719,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,467,000 after buying an additional 14,831 shares during the period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 16.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,202,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,548,000 after buying an additional 167,262 shares during the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Truist Financial reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price objective (up from $10.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of PDM opened at $10.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 2.40 and a current ratio of 2.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.82 and a beta of 1.22. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 52-week low of $4.91 and a 52-week high of $10.94. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $9.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.13.

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

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 23rd were issued a $0.125 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 23rd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.60%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently -81.97%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust 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.