Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) Short Interest Update

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 444,300 shares, a drop of 38.5% from the September 30th total of 722,300 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 302,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Whitestone REIT news, Director Julia Bruns Buthman bought 5,000 shares of Whitestone REIT stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $12.99 per share, for a total transaction of $64,950.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $105,128.07. This trade represents a 100.00 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 5.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WSR shares. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Whitestone REIT from $14.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $15.00 price objective on shares of Whitestone REIT in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, StockNews.com started coverage on Whitestone REIT in a research report on Saturday, October 19th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $15.00.

Whitestone REIT Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:WSR traded down $0.11 on Friday, reaching $14.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 105,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 324,452. Whitestone REIT has a 12-month low of $9.32 and a 12-month high of $14.54. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $709.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $13.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $13.07.

Whitestone REIT Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.0413 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 3rd. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. Whitestone REIT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 161.29%.

Whitestone REIT Company Profile

Whitestone REIT NYSE: WSR is a community-centered real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, owns, operates, and develops open-air, retail centers located in some of the fastest growing markets in the country: Phoenix, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Our centers are convenience focused: merchandised with a mix of service-oriented tenants providing food (restaurants and grocers), self-care (health and fitness), services (financial and logistics), education and entertainment to the surrounding communities.