Principal Financial Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Smartstop Self Storage REIT Inc $SMA

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 25.6% in Q1, buying an additional 528,974 shares and bringing its total holding to 2.6 million shares worth about $78.6 million.
• Smartstop Self Storage REIT reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $0.49 versus $0.48 expected and revenue of $78.31 million, up 19.7% year over year.
• The company raised its monthly dividend to $0.1359 per share, implying a 4.7% annualized yield, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $36.31.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Smartstop Self Storage REIT Inc (NYSE:SMA - Free Report) by 25.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,596,133 shares of the healthcare company's stock after purchasing an additional 528,974 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 4.69% of Smartstop Self Storage REIT worth $78,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rossby Financial LCC increased its stake in shares of Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Rossby Financial LCC now owns 7,186 shares of the healthcare company's stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. Arax Advisory Partners boosted its stake in Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 80.1% during the 4th quarter. Arax Advisory Partners now owns 1,439 shares of the healthcare company's stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 19,944 shares of the healthcare company's stock valued at $617,000 after acquiring an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 104,200 shares of the healthcare company's stock worth $3,155,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Peregrine Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Smartstop Self Storage REIT by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Peregrine Capital Management LLC now owns 157,994 shares of the healthcare company's stock worth $4,784,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares in the last quarter.

Smartstop Self Storage REIT Stock Up 5.7%

SMA stock opened at $35.02 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 233.43 and a beta of 0.56. Smartstop Self Storage REIT Inc has a 1-year low of $29.41 and a 1-year high of $39.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $32.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 5.33 and a quick ratio of 5.33.

Smartstop Self Storage REIT (NYSE:SMA - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The healthcare company reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.01. Smartstop Self Storage REIT had a net margin of 4.38% and a return on equity of 1.00%. The company had revenue of $78.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.56 million. Smartstop Self Storage REIT's revenue was up 19.7% on a year-over-year basis. Smartstop Self Storage REIT has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.940-2.040 EPS. Research analysts predict that Smartstop Self Storage REIT Inc will post 2.01 EPS for the current year.

Smartstop Self Storage REIT Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.1359 per share. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 4.7%. This is a positive change from Smartstop Self Storage REIT's previous monthly dividend of $0.13. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Smartstop Self Storage REIT's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,053.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SMA. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Smartstop Self Storage REIT to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Smartstop Self Storage REIT from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Smartstop Self Storage REIT from $35.00 to $32.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Smartstop Self Storage REIT from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Smartstop Self Storage REIT from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $36.31.

Smartstop Self Storage REIT Profile

Symmetry Medical Inc (Symmetry) is a medical device solutions company, including surgical instruments, orthopedic implants, and sterilization cases and trays. The Company designs, develops and offers worldwide production and supply chain capabilities for these products to customers in the orthopedic industry, and other medical device markets (including but not limited to arthroscopy, dental, laparoscopy, osteobiologic, and endoscopy segments). It also manufactures specialized non-healthcare products, primarily in the aerospace industry.

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