Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) Raised to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Separately, Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Whitestone REIT from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 12th.

Whitestone REIT Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:WSR opened at $12.24 on Friday. Whitestone REIT has a 52-week low of $11.78 and a 52-week high of $15.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $12.66 and a 200 day moving average of $13.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $622.76 million, a PE ratio of 29.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.13 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.49, a quick ratio of 2.17 and a current ratio of 2.17.

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.01. Whitestone REIT had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 4.98%. The business had revenue of $37.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.95 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Whitestone REIT will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whitestone REIT Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 2nd. This represents a $0.54 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. Whitestone REIT’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.00%.

Insider Transactions at Whitestone REIT

In related news, Director Donald A. Miller purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $12.35 per share, with a total value of $61,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 21,708 shares in the company, valued at approximately $268,093.80. This represents a 29.93% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.