Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on PDM. Baird R W lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut Piedmont Office Realty Trust from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $11.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Down 8.4 %

Shares of PDM stock traded down $0.67 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $7.29. 2,141,027 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 549,619. Piedmont Office Realty Trust has a 1 year low of $5.93 and a 1 year high of $11.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $904.33 million, a PE ratio of -11.76 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $8.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $9.34.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.37. The company had revenue of $143.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.16 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 13.47% and a negative return on equity of 4.61%. Research analysts predict that Piedmont Office Realty Trust will post 1.49 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Office Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC raised its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 15.1% in the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $129,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 60,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $606,000 after buying an additional 6,577 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 226.3% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 15,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 10,530 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 8.3% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,511 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 2,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 34.8% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 4,809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241 shares during the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.