Wells Fargo Upgrades Piedmont Office Realty Trust (PDM) to Market Perform; Portfolio Risks Now Reflected

Wells Fargo upgraded Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE: PDM) from Underperform to Market Perform, price target range raised from $16-18 to $17-19.

Wells analyst said, "We downgraded PDM in early 2011 based on our view that earnings expectations were too high for 2011 and 2012, the fundamentals for large office tenants in PDM’s markets were weak, tenant-specific issues throughout the portfolio would weigh on shares, and an eventual dividend cut would spur underperformance due to PDM's high retail shareholder base. Challenges still remain in the portfolio, but we believe PDM has made decent progress towards backfilling some of its recent and pending tenant move-outs. Market conditions have begun to improve, albeit modestly."

"Our FY'12 FFO estimate is unchanged at $1.42/sh but we’re lowering 2013 to $1.41/sh from $1.44/share."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Piedmont Office Realty Trust click here. For more ratings news on Piedmont Office Realty Trust click here.

Shares of Piedmont Office Realty Trust closed at $17.81 yesterday.

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Tesla plans 'flying' Roadster stunt at SpaceX Texas site as early as August
• Apollo Hospitals (APLH:IN) PT Raised to INR8,500 at ICICI Securities
• SanDisk upgraded at JPMorgan after investor day; shares climb