Life Storage (NYSE:LSI) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Life Storage (NYSE:LSI) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The real estate investment trust reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.47), MarketWatch Earnings reports. The firm had revenue of $166.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.41 million. Life Storage had a return on equity of 7.09% and a net margin of 25.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.44 earnings per share.

NYSE:LSI traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $83.96. 445,922 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 683,112. Life Storage has a twelve month low of $44.87 and a twelve month high of $86.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 1.18. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $82.26 and a 200 day moving average of $76.04. The stock has a market cap of $6.23 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 5.27 and a beta of 0.32.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 15th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 14th. Life Storage’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.67%.

Several brokerages have weighed in on LSI. Zacks Investment Research cut Life Storage from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 18th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Life Storage from $80.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 4th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Life Storage from $81.33 to $85.33 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Life Storage from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $81.33 to $93.33 in a research report on Thursday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI restated an “in-line” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Life Storage in a research report on Monday, February 1st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.52.

In other Life Storage news, CFO Andrew J. Gregoire sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.31, for a total transaction of $571,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 59,181 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,764,980.11. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.90% of the company’s stock.

Life Storage Company Profile

Life Storage, Inc is a self-administered and self-managed equity REIT that is in the business of acquiring and managing self-storage facilities. Located in Buffalo, New York, the Company operates more than 900 storage facilities in 30 states and in the province of Ontario, Canada. The Company serves both residential and commercial storage customers with storage units rented by month.

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