Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Acquires 19,300 Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 16.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 139,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 19,300 shares during the period. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC owned about 0.11% of Piedmont Office Realty Trust worth $1,017,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of PDM. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 13.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 41,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 5,007 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC increased its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 15.1% during the first quarter. Cetera Advisor Networks LLC now owns 18,036 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 2,368 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 201.5% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 14,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $242,000 after buying an additional 9,442 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 56.4% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 64,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 23,137 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 1.4% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 110,448 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:PDM opened at $6.94 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a one year low of $5.99 and a one year high of $12.70. The company has a market cap of $858.48 million, a PE ratio of 11.38 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $7.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $7.15.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 20th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.46 by ($0.48). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 4.16%. The company had revenue of $143.07 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $143.20 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 24th. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 7.20%. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 81.97%.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Profile

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc (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. Its approximately $5 billion portfolio is currently comprised of approximately 17 million square feet. 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 S&P Global Ratings (BBB) and Moody's (Baa2).