Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. Buys Shares of 1,438 Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Key Points

• Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. has invested approximately $206,000 in Digital Realty Trust, acquiring 1,438 shares during the 1st quarter.
• Digital Realty Trust recently reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.87, surpassing analysts' estimates and a revenue of $1.49 billion, reflecting a 10% increase year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.22, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.74%, even though its dividend payout ratio stands at 128.08%.

Sterling Investment Advisors Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,438 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 12.0% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 284,929 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,827,000 after purchasing an additional 30,559 shares during the period. Texas Yale Capital Corp. raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 6.1% during the first quarter. Texas Yale Capital Corp. now owns 26,688 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,824,000 after purchasing an additional 1,535 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 5.9% during the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 298,466 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $42,767,000 after purchasing an additional 16,635 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 5.8% during the first quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 19,406 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,781,000 after purchasing an additional 1,058 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 2.9% during the first quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 154,780 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $22,178,000 after purchasing an additional 4,347 shares during the period. 99.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark R. Patterson sold 175 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.50, for a total value of $30,887.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 6,522 shares in the company, valued at $1,151,133. This represents a 2.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DLR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $200.00 price target on the stock. Truist Financial set a $199.00 price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $190.68.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 0.1%

Shares of Digital Realty Trust stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $177.08. The company had a trading volume of 768,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,153,192. The company's 50-day moving average is $174.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $164.00. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a twelve month low of $129.95 and a twelve month high of $198.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a market cap of $59.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.95.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.74 by $0.13. Digital Realty Trust had a net margin of 23.98% and a return on equity of 6.46%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.65 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will post 7.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Digital Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, June 13th were given a $1.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 13th. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Digital Realty Trust's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 128.08%.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty Trust, Inc operates as a real estate investment trust, which engages in the provision of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions. It serves the following industries: artificial intelligence (AI), networks, cloud, digital media, mobile, financial services, healthcare, and gaming.