Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) Shares Shorted: Short Interest Up 88.4% in September

Piedmont Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE:PDM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totaling 9,375,754 shares, a growth of 88.4% from the September 15th total of 4,977,440 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,739,469 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.4 days. Currently, 7.6% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sherry Rexroad sold 4,446 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.81, for a total transaction of $39,169.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 53,857 shares in the company, valued at $474,480.17. This trade represents a 7.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. purchased a new position in Piedmont Realty Trust during the second quarter worth about $17,788,000. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Piedmont Realty Trust by 15.4% in the 1st quarter. Wilsey Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,892,550 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $32,144,000 after acquiring an additional 651,648 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Piedmont Realty Trust in the first quarter valued at approximately $3,614,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Piedmont Realty Trust in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,975,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. grew its holdings in Piedmont Realty Trust by 63,822.3% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 474,943 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,120,000 after buying an additional 474,200 shares during the last quarter. 84.48% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Piedmont Realty Trust Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE PDM opened at $9.09 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a PE ratio of -13.98 and a beta of 1.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. Piedmont Realty Trust has a 52 week low of $6.32 and a 52 week high of $10.13.

Piedmont Realty Trust (NYSE:PDM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.03). Piedmont Realty Trust had a negative return on equity of 5.39% and a negative net margin of 14.18%. The company had revenue of $144.12 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $133.68 million. Piedmont Realty Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.500-1.550 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Piedmont Realty Trust will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on PDM. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Piedmont Realty Trust from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $10.67.

About Piedmont Realty Trust

Piedmont Office Realty Trust, Inc (NYSE: PDM) is a self-managed real estate investment trust that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages commercial office properties. The company focuses primarily on high-quality office buildings in major U.S. markets.

Piedmont’s portfolio has historically been concentrated in the Sun Belt, with properties in markets such as Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando and Washington, DC Its properties serve businesses across a range of industries and typically include office space, parking and related tenant amenities.

The company generates revenue mainly by leasing office space to corporate and institutional tenants.