LPL Financial LLC Acquires 17,518 Shares of CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE)

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) by 19.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,610 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,518 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in CubeSmart were worth $4,654,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CubeSmart in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,278,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of CubeSmart by 10,685.4% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 488,579 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $20,936,000 after acquiring an additional 484,049 shares during the last quarter. Presima Securities ULC lifted its holdings in CubeSmart by 4,092.4% in the 4th quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 444,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,042,000 after buying an additional 433,790 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its holdings in CubeSmart by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 3,368,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $144,320,000 after acquiring an additional 191,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lightrock Netherlands B.V. bought a new stake in shares of CubeSmart during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,003,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of CubeSmart from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $52.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of CubeSmart from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $45.00 in a report on Friday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on CubeSmart from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of CubeSmart from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.31.

CubeSmart Trading Up 6.2 %

CubeSmart stock opened at $38.11 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. CubeSmart has a 12-month low of $34.24 and a 12-month high of $55.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a P/E/G ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $41.42 and a 200 day moving average of $44.81.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $231.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $267.54 million. CubeSmart had a net margin of 37.79% and a return on equity of 14.33%. As a group, research analysts predict that CubeSmart will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

CubeSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. CubeSmart’s payout ratio is presently 120.93%.

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.