Alliancebernstein L.P. Sells 3,073 Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lowered its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 178,643 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,073 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Piedmont Office Realty Trust were worth $1,635,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 34.6% in the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 2,719,332 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,882,000 after buying an additional 699,339 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in the 4th quarter worth about $5,106,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 35.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,106,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $19,278,000 after acquiring an additional 546,242 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Piedmont Office Realty Trust by 45.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,534,770 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,501,000 after purchasing an additional 478,560 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Piedmont Office Realty Trust during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,313,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.48% of the company’s stock.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Stock Performance

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust stock opened at $6.56 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.40. Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. has a 12 month low of $5.81 and a 12 month high of $11.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $816.37 million, a P/E ratio of -10.42 and a beta of 1.21.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37. The company had revenue of $143.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $142.16 million. Piedmont Office Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 4.82% and a negative net margin of 13.86%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 21st were given a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 21st. Piedmont Office Realty Trust’s dividend payout ratio is currently -79.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on PDM. Baird R W lowered Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from $10.00 to $9.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 17th. Finally, Truist Financial reissued a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $11.00) on shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th.

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.