Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Cuts Stock Position in Public Storage (NYSE:PSA)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP trimmed its stake in shares of Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,989 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 130 shares during the quarter. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in Public Storage were worth $607,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Second Half Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Public Storage in the 3rd quarter valued at $290,129,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Public Storage by 29.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,168,763 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $835,032,000 after buying an additional 729,262 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Public Storage by 555.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 615,154 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $162,104,000 after acquiring an additional 521,322 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Public Storage by 22.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,470,839 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $633,949,000 after acquiring an additional 451,864 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Public Storage by 29.0% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,141,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $300,786,000 after purchasing an additional 256,326 shares during the period. 78.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on PSA shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Public Storage in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “sell” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Public Storage from $267.00 to $270.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Public Storage from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Public Storage from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $280.00 to $310.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Public Storage from $307.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $305.00.

Public Storage Price Performance

PSA traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $262.17. 699,042 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 724,347. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $280.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $276.62. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 3.43 and a beta of 0.54. Public Storage has a 1-year low of $233.18 and a 1-year high of $312.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The real estate investment trust reported $2.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.15 by ($1.94). Public Storage had a net margin of 45.34% and a return on equity of 35.31%. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $4.16 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Public Storage will post 16.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Public Storage Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 12th. This represents a $12.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.58%. Public Storage’s dividend payout ratio is currently 108.50%.

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.