National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest plunged 29.6% to 4,218,473 shares as of March 31, equal to 6.3% of shares short and a days-to-cover of about 1.1 days.
• Dividend: NSA pays $0.57 quarterly (annualized $2.28) for a ~5.5% yield, but the dividend payout ratio is an elevated 330%, signaling potential sustainability concerns.
• Outlook and sentiment: Q4 EPS of $0.57 slightly beat estimates, yet FY-2026 guidance of $2.13–$2.25 trails the Street (~2.4 EPS) and the consensus rating is "Reduce" with an average target of $33.60, below the current share price.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 4,218,473 shares, a decline of 29.6% from the March 15th total of 5,994,258 shares. Currently, 6.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,982,634 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.1 days.

Institutional Trading of National Storage Affiliates Trust

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in National Storage Affiliates Trust by 339.6% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 822 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 635 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in National Storage Affiliates Trust in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its position in National Storage Affiliates Trust by 650.0% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,125 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in National Storage Affiliates Trust by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,302 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of National Storage Affiliates Trust in the 3rd quarter valued at about $41,000. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

National Storage Affiliates Trust Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of NSA opened at $41.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $35.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $32.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.25. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a PE ratio of 60.04 and a beta of 1.08. National Storage Affiliates Trust has a fifty-two week low of $27.43 and a fifty-two week high of $41.50.

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE:NSA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $187.03 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $187.24 million. National Storage Affiliates Trust had a return on equity of 5.81% and a net margin of 9.80%.National Storage Affiliates Trust's revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.60 EPS. National Storage Affiliates Trust has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.130-2.250 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that National Storage Affiliates Trust will post 2.4 EPS for the current year.

National Storage Affiliates Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.57 per share. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 13th. National Storage Affiliates Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 330.43%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on NSA. BNP Paribas Exane raised National Storage Affiliates Trust from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered National Storage Affiliates Trust from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, February 28th. Mizuho upped their target price on National Storage Affiliates Trust from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 12th. Truist Financial upped their target price on National Storage Affiliates Trust from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on National Storage Affiliates Trust from $35.00 to $33.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Reduce" and an average target price of $33.60.

National Storage Affiliates Trust Company Profile

National Storage Affiliates Trust is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on the ownership and operation of self-storage properties in the United States. Since its initial public offering in August 2015, NSA has pursued a growth strategy built on strategic acquisitions and partnerships, establishing a diversified portfolio of assets backed by a centralized support platform. The Trust’s model combines the scalability of a national REIT with the local expertise of affiliate operators.

The company’s core business involves providing flexible storage solutions to both individual and commercial customers.

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