Insider Selling: CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) COO Sells $2,085,639.66 in Stock

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) COO Joel D. Keaton sold 43,478 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.97, for a total transaction of $2,085,639.66. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 87,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,205,194.11. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

CubeSmart Stock Performance

Shares of CUBE stock opened at $48.17 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $45.75 and its 200 day moving average is $44.19. CubeSmart has a 12 month low of $33.17 and a 12 month high of $49.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 0.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.76, a PEG ratio of 8.22 and a beta of 0.80.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analysts’ expectations of $260.68 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CubeSmart will post 2.64 earnings per share for the current year.

CubeSmart Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. CubeSmart’s dividend payout ratio is currently 113.33%.

Institutional Trading of CubeSmart

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in CubeSmart by 330.2% during the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 80,405 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,632,000 after purchasing an additional 61,714 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 5.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,379,516 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $152,652,000 after buying an additional 169,600 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CubeSmart in the second quarter worth $593,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in CubeSmart by 23.2% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 154,856 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,921,000 after purchasing an additional 29,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in CubeSmart by 16.0% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 560,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,336,000 after purchasing an additional 77,503 shares during the last quarter. 97.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on CUBE shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on CubeSmart from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Raymond James boosted their price target on CubeSmart from $48.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets cut CubeSmart from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CubeSmart from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.36.

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.