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

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 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th.

Digital Realty Trust has increased its dividend by an average of 1.7% annually 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

NYSE DLR opened at $157.28 on Friday. Digital Realty Trust has a one year low of $135.54 and a one year high of $198.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $171.70 and a 200 day moving average of $169.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 1.61 and a current ratio of 2.07. The company has a market capitalization of $52.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 97.08, a PEG ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.63.

Digital Realty Trust (NYSE:DLR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 10.85% and a return on equity of 2.97%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Digital Realty Trust will post 7.07 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Digital Realty Trust

In related news, CFO Matt Mercier sold 2,518 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.40, for a total transaction of $471,873.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DLR shares. StockNews.com cut Digital Realty Trust from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Digital Realty Trust in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $168.00 to $202.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Digital Realty Trust from $135.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Digital Realty Trust from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and set a $208.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $179.95.

About Digital Realty Trust

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.