Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $271,000 Investment in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR)

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:DLR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 2,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $450,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Digital Realty Trust by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,175 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in Digital Realty Trust by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 17,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,164,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Lmcg Investments LLC now owns 4,620 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, First Financial Corp IN lifted its position in shares of Digital Realty Trust by 46.6% in the fourth quarter. First Financial Corp IN now owns 324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 99.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Digital Realty Trust Stock Down 3.1 %

Digital Realty Trust stock opened at $140.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $142.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $137.93. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $86.33 and a fifty-two week high of $154.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.29 and a quick ratio of 1.14.

Digital Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Investors of record on Friday, June 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.22 per share. This represents a $4.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. Digital Realty Trust’s payout ratio is 135.56%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Digital Realty Trust

In other news, Director Jean F. H. P. Mandeville sold 3,400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $145.50, for a total transaction of $494,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,413 shares in the company, valued at $1,224,091.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.39% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on DLR shares. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $116.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Digital Realty Trust from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $135.00 to $155.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Digital Realty Trust from $154.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Digital Realty Trust from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Digital Realty Trust from $110.00 to $119.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Digital Realty Trust currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $142.65.

About Digital Realty Trust

Digital Realty brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform, provides customers with a secure data meeting place and a proven Pervasive Datacenter Architecture (PDx) solution methodology for powering innovation and efficiently managing Data Gravity challenges.