American Century Companies Inc. Reduces Holdings in CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in shares of CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) by 26.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 552,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 201,875 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.24% of CubeSmart worth $23,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CubeSmart during the third quarter worth about $212,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in CubeSmart by 28.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 116,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,293,000 after buying an additional 25,756 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its position in CubeSmart by 14.2% during the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 12,581 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $677,000 after buying an additional 1,561 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 32.9% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 158,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,531,000 after acquiring an additional 39,270 shares during the period. Finally, Townsquare Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the third quarter worth approximately $327,000. 97.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CUBE has been the subject of several research reports. Truist Financial upgraded shares of CubeSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of CubeSmart from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded CubeSmart from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $46.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays decreased their price objective on CubeSmart from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on CubeSmart from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CubeSmart has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.00.

CubeSmart Price Performance

CubeSmart stock opened at $42.03 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 0.88. CubeSmart has a one year low of $39.80 and a one year high of $55.14. The business has a fifty day moving average of $41.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.20 and a current ratio of 0.20.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $231.41 million during 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, analysts predict that CubeSmart will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.