Employees Retirement System of Texas Boosts Holdings in CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE)

Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) by 110.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 154,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 81,000 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned about 0.07% of CubeSmart worth $6,620,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the fourth quarter worth approximately $21,278,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CubeSmart in the fourth quarter valued at about $408,064,000. Oak Thistle LLC boosted its stake in shares of CubeSmart by 232.9% during the fourth quarter. Oak Thistle LLC now owns 32,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,383,000 after buying an additional 22,582 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the fourth quarter worth about $445,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in CubeSmart by 13.1% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 319,316 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,950,000 after acquiring an additional 36,919 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CUBE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CubeSmart from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered CubeSmart from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $52.00 to $46.00 in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on CubeSmart from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group downgraded CubeSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $57.00 to $46.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CubeSmart currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.00.

CubeSmart Price Performance

CubeSmart stock opened at $39.51 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a P/E/G ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.85. CubeSmart has a 52 week low of $39.34 and a 52 week high of $55.14. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $45.28. The company has a quick ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $231.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $267.54 million. CubeSmart had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 37.79%. On average, equities research analysts predict that CubeSmart will post 2.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CubeSmart Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 120.93%.

CubeSmart Profile

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.