Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 1,648 Shares of Public Storage (NYSE:PSA)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) by 7.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,742 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,648 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Public Storage were worth $6,211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PSA. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Public Storage by 2.9% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 465,653 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $169,433,000 after purchasing an additional 13,065 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Public Storage by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,133 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $938,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Public Storage by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,219 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,563,000 after purchasing an additional 298 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its position in Public Storage by 42.0% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 7,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,361,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Finally, Fermata Advisors LLC boosted its position in Public Storage by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Fermata Advisors LLC now owns 925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.79% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on PSA shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Public Storage from $297.00 to $309.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Public Storage from $305.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho began coverage on Public Storage in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $287.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Public Storage from $365.00 to $330.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on Public Storage from $329.00 to $328.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $337.42.

Public Storage Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of PSA stock opened at $309.07 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $54.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.91 and a beta of 0.91. Public Storage has a one year low of $256.60 and a one year high of $369.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $293.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $305.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.97 and a quick ratio of 0.97.

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.06 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.18 billion. Public Storage had a return on equity of 34.07% and a net margin of 40.54%. Public Storage’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $4.03 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Public Storage will post 16.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Public Storage Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 12th will be issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 12th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. Public Storage’s payout ratio is presently 119.17%.

About Public Storage

Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns, and operates self-storage facilities. At December 31, 2023, we had: (i) interests in 3,044 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with approximately 218 million net rentable square feet in the United States and (ii) a 35% common equity interest in Shurgard Self Storage Limited (Euronext Brussels: SHUR), which owned 275 self-storage facilities located in seven Western European nations with approximately 15 million net rentable square feet operated under the Shurgard brand.