CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) Reaches New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Evercore ISI raised their price target on the stock from $52.00 to $53.00. Evercore ISI currently has an in-line rating on the stock. CubeSmart traded as high as $54.62 and last traded at $54.38, with a volume of 98841 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $54.00.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, August 16th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CubeSmart from $48.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 22nd. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. UBS Group downgraded CubeSmart from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $54.00 in a report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered CubeSmart from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CubeSmart presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $49.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at CubeSmart

In other news, CEO Christopher P. Marr sold 37,000 shares of CubeSmart stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $27,947,704.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Christopher P. Marr sold 37,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 576,836 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,947,704.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Joel D. Keaton sold 43,478 shares of CubeSmart stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.97, for a total transaction of $2,085,639.66. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,663 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,205,194.11. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 88,217 shares of company stock valued at $4,244,344 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CubeSmart by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 31,917,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,443,316,000 after purchasing an additional 274,493 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CubeSmart during the fourth quarter valued at $444,818,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 26.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,687,536 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $257,191,000 after buying an additional 1,205,097 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of CubeSmart by 16.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 4,465,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $201,692,000 after buying an additional 615,035 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of CubeSmart by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,379,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $152,652,000 after acquiring an additional 169,600 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.61% of the company’s stock.

CubeSmart Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.03 and a current ratio of 0.03. The business’s 50-day moving average is $49.40 and its 200-day moving average is $45.54. The company has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 30.12, a PEG ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 0.82.

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

CubeSmart Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 113.33%.

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.