Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $1.22 (NYSE:DLR)

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of 1.22 per share by the real estate investment trust on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $4.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%.

Digital Realty Trust has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.7% per year over the last three years. Digital Realty Trust has a dividend payout ratio of 314.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect Digital Realty Trust to earn $7.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 63.8%.

Digital Realty Trust Price Performance

Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $159.16 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $172.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $169.78. Digital Realty Trust has a one year low of $135.54 and a one year high of $198.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 2.07 and a quick ratio of 1.61. The firm has a market cap of $52.80 billion, a PE ratio of 98.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.63.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.73 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $1.46. Digital Realty Trust had a return on equity of 2.97% and a net margin of 10.85%. As a group, research analysts expect that Digital Realty Trust will post 7.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DLR shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $194.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $179.95.

Insider Transactions at Digital Realty Trust

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total value of $471,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Digital Realty Trust Company Profile

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.