Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) Stock Rating Raised to Strong-Buy at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce

Key Points

• Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded Digital Realty Trust to “strong buy,” adding to a generally positive analyst outlook. The stock has a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and a $219.78 average price target.
• Digital Realty reported quarterly revenue of $1.92 billion, up 28.9% year over year and above estimates, but earnings per share of $1.21 fell short of the $1.98 consensus forecast.
• The data-center REIT has a market capitalization of approximately $63.34 billion, while institutional investors own 99.71% of its shares; an insider recently sold 200 shares valued at $38,792.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce to a "strong-buy" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

DLR has been the topic of several other research reports. Argus raised Digital Realty Trust from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $212.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Digital Realty Trust from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. HSBC decreased their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $240.00 to $235.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $230.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-five have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Digital Realty Trust currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $219.78.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Performance

Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $170.72 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $187.03. Digital Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $146.23 and a 1-year high of $208.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market cap of $63.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.38 and a beta of 0.99.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The real estate investment trust reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.98 by ($0.77). The firm had revenue of $1.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.66 billion. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 3.34% and a net margin of 11.80%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 28.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.87 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 8.40 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mark Patterson sold 200 shares of Digital Realty Trust stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $193.96, for a total value of $38,792.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,322 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,226,215.12. The trade was a 3.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.15% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Digital Realty Trust

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.3% during the first quarter. Cherry Creek Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 18,745 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,378,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the period. Columbia Bank raised its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 0.9% in the first quarter. Columbia Bank now owns 6,167 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 9.1% in the first quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 657 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $118,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Denali Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 1.3% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 4,359 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $783,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Finally, Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Digital Realty Trust by 1.1% in the first quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,618 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.71% of the company's stock.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc is a real estate investment trust that owns, operates and develops data center facilities for businesses, cloud service providers, information technology companies and telecommunications organizations. The company provides the physical infrastructure needed to support data storage, networking, cloud computing and other digital operations.

Its services include data center colocation, interconnection and private connectivity solutions. Digital Realty also offers access to cloud and network providers through its PlatformDIGITAL platform, which is designed to help customers deploy, connect and manage their digital infrastructure across multiple locations.

Founded in 2001, Digital Realty serves customers through a global portfolio of data centers and related facilities across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

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