Residential REIT Centerspace: From $107.50 to $60.16 In 12 Months

Shares of residential real estate investment trust (REIT) Centerspace CSR sold with extraordinarily heavy volume and touched a brand new 52-week low. 

Based in Minot, North Dakota, Centerspace is a residential REIT focused on apartment homes. Its properties are found in Minneapolis, Denver and Omaha, Nebraska, among other Midwestern locations.

The company is a smaller type of real estate investment trust with a market capitalization of $933 million. To compare, one of the majors in the field, Prologis Inc, has a market capitalization of $109 billion.

Average daily volume is relatively light at just 106,000 shares. Institutions own about 86% of the Centerspace’s total float. 

This year’s funds from operations (FFO) are negative by 228% and the past five-year FFO growth rate is a positive 32.8%.

The REIT pays a dividend of 4.85%.

Analysts have been revising their opinion of Centerspace downward. For example, on Dec. 14, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC downgraded it from Buy to Neutral. This follows a downgrading on Nov. 23 by Raymond James, which took the REIT from Market Perform to Underperform, and on Nov. 1, Piper Sandler reduced its opinion from Overweight to Neutral with a price target dropped from $85 to $70.

The daily price chart for Centerspace is here:

The shaded red bar that extends above the Dec. 12 price indicates how heavy the selling was — it’s the biggest volume bar on the nine-month chart. It’s a bearish look when the price trades below the downtrending 50-day moving average (the blue line) and well below the downtrending 200-day moving average (the red line). The relative strength indicator (RSI) below the price chart may be suggesting a positive divergence.

Start generating passive income through real estate

Check out these featured investments from Benzinga's Real Estate Offerings Screener.

The weekly price chart looks like this:

At the beginning of this year, Centerspace traded at $107.50 and can be purchased now for $60.16. From the peak price to the current price, that’s a loss in value of 44%. The 50-week moving average has turned unmistakably downward, and the REIT is trading below its 200-week moving average. 

The steady rise in interest rates undertaken by the Federal Reserve this year is negatively affecting real estate investment trusts such as Centerspace.

Watch: 'We're so early on in single-family rentals being an institutional asset class': Benzinga talk to The Peak Group about the rise in single-family rental investments

Weekly REIT Report: REITs are one of the most misunderstood investment options, making it difficult for investors to spot incredible opportunities until it’s too late. Benzinga’s in-house real estate research team has been working hard to identify the greatest opportunities in today’s market, which you can gain access to for free by signing up for Benzinga’s Weekly REIT Report.

More on Real Estate from Benzinga

• Bezos-Backed Startup Lets You Become A Landlord With $100
• The Supply Of Farmland is Shrinking, But New Investment Opportunities Make It Possible to Buy Land As A Hedge Against Inflation
• This Little-Known REIT Is Producing Double-Digit Returns In A Bear Market: How?

Charts courtesy of StockCharts