Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Stock Price Down 6.5%

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) traded down 6.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $6.49 and last traded at $6.50. 55,562 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 94% from the average session volume of 893,879 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Trading Down 4.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.49 and a quick ratio of 1.49. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $6.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $6.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $823.87 million, a P/E ratio of -16.62 and a beta of 1.15.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 7th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.42 by ($0.65). Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 2.72% and a negative net margin of 8.38%. The business had revenue of $145.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $146.37 million. Research analysts forecast that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Piedmont Office Realty Trust's payout ratio is -125.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PDM. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 78.7% during the first quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,871 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the third quarter valued at about $60,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 3,499.2% during the second quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 4,643 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 4,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accel Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the third quarter valued at about $65,000. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Company Profile

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.