Is Public Storage a Good Dividend Stock Buy?

It has been a couple of years since I last took a serious look at Public Storage (NYSE: PSA), and shares now are trading remarkably close to where they were then. Far and away the leader in America's massive self-storage industry (which boasts 5.4 square feet of storage space for each and every person in the country), the real estate investment trust (REIT) surged during the first half of 2019, only to reverse course in the second.

Besides lots of competition popping up -- storage facilities are cheap to construct and manage compared with other types of commercial real estate -- interest rates have been a factor. Rising rates put pressure on fixed assets while falling rates typically provide a tailwind for them.