CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) Lowered to Neutral at UBS Group

UBS Group cut shares of CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has $54.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $53.00.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CUBE. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of CubeSmart from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price target for the company from $50.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of CubeSmart in a report on Thursday, August 22nd. They issued a sector outperform rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price objective on shares of CubeSmart from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $49.67.

CubeSmart Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CubeSmart stock opened at $54.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $12.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.00, a PEG ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.03. CubeSmart has a one year low of $33.17 and a one year high of $54.47. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.43.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.23). The company had revenue of $266.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $260.68 million. CubeSmart had a net margin of 38.07% and a return on equity of 14.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.66 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that CubeSmart will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

CubeSmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Christopher P. Marr sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.45, for a total value of $1,792,650.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 576,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,947,704.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Christopher P. Marr sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.45, for a total value of $1,792,650.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 576,836 shares in the company, valued at $27,947,704.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Jeffrey P. Foster sold 7,739 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.30, for a total transaction of $366,054.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 182,460 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,630,358. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 88,217 shares of company stock valued at $4,244,344. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CubeSmart

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of CubeSmart by 136.9% in the second quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CubeSmart in the first quarter worth $26,000. Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of CubeSmart in the first quarter worth $26,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of CubeSmart in the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CubeSmart in the first quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.61% of the company’s stock.

About CubeSmart

CubeSmart is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. The Company's self-storage properties are designed to offer affordable, easily accessible and, in most locations, climate-controlled storage space for residential and commercial customers. According to the 2023 Self-Storage Almanac, CubeSmart is one of the top three owners and operators of self-storage properties in the United States.