Investors Buy Large Volume of Digital Realty Trust Put Options (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors acquired 9,027 put options on the company. This is an increase of 199% compared to the average volume of 3,024 put options.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of DLR opened at $144.24 on Wednesday. Digital Realty Trust has a one year low of $86.33 and a one year high of $154.18. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $141.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $45.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.07 and a beta of 0.55.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 14th. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is currently 135.56%.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $145.50, for a total value of $494,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,224,091.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DLR. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 18.5% during the third quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $396,000 after acquiring an additional 511 shares in the last quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP grew its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 48,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,507,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,236,434 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,559,000 after buying an additional 85,262 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 720,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $87,209,000 after purchasing an additional 19,931 shares during the period. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 62,182 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,368,000 after buying an additional 5,157 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DLR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $143.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank cut shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $157.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, February 16th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com downgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Digital Realty Trust has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $142.65.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.