Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.58 Million Position in Public Storage $PSA

Merit Financial Group LLC reduced its holdings in Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) by 41.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,069 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,230 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Public Storage were worth $1,575,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. National Pension Service increased its stake in shares of Public Storage by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 255,300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $73,743,000 after purchasing an additional 10,345 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Public Storage by 57.5% during the 3rd quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 4,974 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,816 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Public Storage by 14,992.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Planning Group LLC now owns 11,772 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,400,000 after purchasing an additional 11,694 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Public Storage by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 41,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,766,000 after purchasing an additional 6,814 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanderbilt University increased its stake in shares of Public Storage by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanderbilt University now owns 9,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 4,626 shares during the last quarter. 78.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

PSA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $293.00 to $276.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Public Storage from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore lowered their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $311.00 to $309.00 in a research note on Monday, April 13th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $319.00 to $321.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $347.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $308.50.

Public Storage Stock Performance

Shares of PSA stock opened at $303.86 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.69, a PEG ratio of 4.09 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.05, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.15. Public Storage has a 52 week low of $256.54 and a 52 week high of $313.51.

Public Storage Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 16th were issued a dividend of $3.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 16th. This represents a $12.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Public Storage’s payout ratio is presently 133.04%.

Public Storage Profile

Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in self-storage services. Headquartered in Glendale, California, the company was founded in the early 1970s and has grown through development and acquisitions to become one of the largest owner-operators of self-storage facilities in the United States. It is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker PSA.

The company’s core business is the ownership, operation and management of self-storage properties that serve both residential and commercial customers.