Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) Cut to "Sell" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Piedmont Realty Trust has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting a change in the analysts' outlook on the stock.
• Recent research reports show that other firms like Truist Financial and JPMorgan have also adjusted their price targets, decreasing Piedmont's target to $9.00 and $8.00 respectively.
• The company's most recent quarterly earnings report indicated a negative net margin of 12.10% and revenue declined by 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on PDM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, June 13th. Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $8.67.

Piedmont Realty Trust Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:PDM traded up $0.14 on Friday, reaching $7.85. 296,471 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 966,890. The company has a current ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Piedmont Realty Trust has a 1-year low of $5.46 and a 1-year high of $11.11. The firm has a market cap of $976.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.26 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.46 and a 200-day moving average of $7.30.

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $111.13 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $141.96 million. Piedmont Realty Trust had a negative net margin of 12.10% and a negative return on equity of 4.32%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.37 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Piedmont Realty Trust will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Piedmont Realty Trust

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of PDM. Vision Capital Corp increased its stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust by 65.0% in the fourth quarter. Vision Capital Corp now owns 3,526,777 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $32,270,000 after buying an additional 1,389,477 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 2,281,624 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $20,877,000 after acquiring an additional 845,098 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust during the first quarter valued at about $5,764,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,106,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Piedmont Realty Trust by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,106,859 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $19,278,000 after acquiring an additional 546,242 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company's stock.

Piedmont 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.