CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) Hits New 52-Week Low Following Analyst Downgrade

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) hit a new 52-week low on Monday after Barclays lowered their price target on the stock from $54.00 to $50.00. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. CubeSmart traded as low as $39.80 and last traded at $39.92, with a volume of 791449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $40.23.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on CUBE. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of CubeSmart from $56.00 to $53.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised CubeSmart from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their target price for the company from $46.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group cut CubeSmart from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $57.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank cut their price objective on CubeSmart from $53.00 to $52.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CubeSmart from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $50.00.

Institutional Trading of CubeSmart

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CUBE. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CubeSmart by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 33,491 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,435,000 after purchasing an additional 478 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in CubeSmart by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 427,579 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $18,305,000 after buying an additional 19,012 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $231,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 9,614.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in shares of CubeSmart in the third quarter valued at approximately $442,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.61% of the company’s stock.

CubeSmart Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.20 and a quick ratio of 0.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 13.00 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $46.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.29.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.68 by ($0.24). CubeSmart had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 37.79%. The business had revenue of $270.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $267.49 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that CubeSmart will post 2.63 earnings per share for the current year.

CubeSmart Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a $0.52 dividend. This is an increase from CubeSmart’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.20%. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio is presently 117.51%.

CubeSmart Company 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.