Bank of America Upgrades CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) to “Buy”

Bank of America upgraded shares of CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $50.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous price target of $44.00.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CUBE. Barclays reduced their price target on CubeSmart from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Truist Financial raised CubeSmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $47.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho began coverage on CubeSmart in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $39.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on CubeSmart from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on CubeSmart from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CubeSmart currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $47.00.

CubeSmart Price Performance

Shares of CubeSmart stock opened at $42.66 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 11.58 and a beta of 1.00. CubeSmart has a one year low of $34.24 and a one year high of $55.14.

CubeSmart (NYSE:CUBE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.62 by $0.02. CubeSmart had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 37.79%. The firm had revenue of $273.04 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $268.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CubeSmart will post 2.64 EPS for the current year.

CubeSmart Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 1st. CubeSmart’s payout ratio is currently 123.08%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CUBE. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the fourth quarter valued at $408,064,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 28.8% during the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,664,210 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $370,049,000 after purchasing an additional 1,937,055 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 184.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 2,944,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,161,000 after purchasing an additional 1,909,496 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of CubeSmart by 219.4% during the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 2,574,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $110,323,000 after purchasing an additional 1,768,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of CubeSmart during the first quarter valued at $53,980,000. 97.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.