Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Short interest fell 20.5% in April to 517,505 shares (about 1.1% of the float) with a days-to-cover of 0.5, signaling relatively low short exposure and limited time required for covering.
• Wall Street sentiment is largely cautious: one analyst rates WSR a Buy and nine rate it a Hold, giving a consensus target price of $17.50 after several recent downgrades.
• Whitestone beat quarterly EPS estimates and set FY2026 guidance at 1.100–1.140 EPS, and it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.1425 (3.0% yield) with an ex-dividend date of June 17.

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR - Get Free Report) was the target of a large drop in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 517,505 shares, a drop of 20.5% from the March 31st total of 650,628 shares. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,104,703 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WSR shares. Citigroup cut shares of Whitestone REIT from a "market outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Truist Financial cut shares of Whitestone REIT from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $17.00 to $19.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Whitestone REIT from a "market outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Maxim Group reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Whitestone REIT in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Whitestone REIT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $17.50.

Whitestone REIT Price Performance

Shares of WSR stock traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $18.97. 384,523 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 749,333. Whitestone REIT has a fifty-two week low of $11.43 and a fifty-two week high of $19.00. The stock's fifty day moving average is $16.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.74. The company has a market cap of $965.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.28 by $0.15. Whitestone REIT had a net margin of 31.04% and a return on equity of 11.23%. The company had revenue of $43.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.27 million. Whitestone REIT has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.100-1.140 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Whitestone REIT will post 1.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Whitestone REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 29th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 17th will be given a dividend of $0.1425 per share. This represents a $0.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 17th. Whitestone REIT's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.00%.

Whitestone REIT Company Profile

Whitestone REIT is a real estate investment trust headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, that specializes in the acquisition, development and management of retail and mixed-use properties. The company's portfolio is concentrated in high-growth Texas markets, including the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, where it primarily owns open-air neighborhood and community shopping centers. Whitestone REIT focuses on convenience- and necessity-based retail, partnering with grocers, fitness operators, service providers and other essential tenants to drive consistent foot traffic and stable occupancy.

In addition to property ownership, Whitestone REIT provides asset and property management services, leasing expertise and development capabilities.

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