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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on WSR. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Whitestone REIT in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Whitestone REIT from $16.00 to $14.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 12th.

Whitestone REIT Price Performance

WSR opened at $12.58 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $13.25. The firm has a market cap of $640.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.90. Whitestone REIT has a twelve month low of $11.78 and a twelve month high of $15.36. The company has a current ratio of 3.02, a quick ratio of 3.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47.

Whitestone REIT (NYSE:WSR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $37.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.95 million. Whitestone REIT had a net margin of 20.15% and a return on equity of 7.23%. Equities research analysts expect that Whitestone REIT will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Whitestone REIT Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a monthly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd will be paid 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 yield of 4.29%. Whitestone REIT’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 90.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Donald A. Miller acquired 5,000 shares of Whitestone REIT stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $12.35 per share, for a total transaction of $61,750.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 21,708 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $268,093.80. The trade was a 29.93% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is 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.