Short Interest in Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) Drops By 13.7%

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA - Get Free Report) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,270,000 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the December 31st total of 3,790,000 shares. Currently, 2.1% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 718,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Public Storage Stock Performance

PSA traded down $2.64 on Monday, reaching $295.84. The stock had a trading volume of 745,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 725,345. Public Storage has a 12-month low of $256.31 and a 12-month high of $369.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The business's 50-day moving average price is $309.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $325.85. The company has a market cap of $51.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.81 and a beta of 0.74.

Insider Activity at Public Storage

In other news, insider Nathaniel A. Vitan sold 450 shares of Public Storage stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.99, for a total transaction of $143,095.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 2,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $751,728.36. The trade was a 15.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 11.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Public Storage

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PSA. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Public Storage by 61.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 18,584 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $5,346,000 after acquiring an additional 7,090 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Public Storage by 20.4% during the second quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,747 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $790,000 after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its position in Public Storage by 4.6% during the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 30,772 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in Public Storage by 29.1% during the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $372,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. boosted its position in Public Storage by 14.0% during the second quarter. SPC Financial Inc. now owns 1,222 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $352,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.79% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on PSA. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $343.00 to $338.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $358.00 to $344.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Public Storage from $306.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of Public Storage from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $298.00 to $299.00 in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Public Storage from $380.00 to $361.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $344.54.

Public Storage Company Profile

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.