Feb 12 (Reuters) - Real estate investment trust Public Storage > forecast 2026 core funds from operations below Wall Street estimates on Thursday, signaling softer demand for its self-storage units, and it announced its CEO departure.

The Glendale, California-based company expects full-year core FFO in the range of $16.35 to $17.00 per share. The midpoint of that forecast is below the analysts' average estimate of $16.91 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The world's largest owner of self-storage facilities also announced that President and CEO Joe Russell will step down on March 31. Tom Boyle, who currently serves as chief financial officer, will succeed him as the top boss beginning April 1.

Joe Fisher has been named the new CFO, effective February 16. He previously served as chief financial and investment officer at UDR UDR.N, a multifamily REIT.

$Public Storage(PSA-N)$, which leases storage spaces on a monthly basis for personal and business use, reported core FFO of $4.26 per share for the quarter ended December 31, compared with $4.21 per share a year ago.

Revenue for the fourth quarter stood at $1.22 billion, up from $1.18 billion in the year-ago period.

As of December 31, Public Storage's portfolio included 3,533 self-storage facilities in 40 states, representing approximately 258 million net rentable square feet in the United States.

(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

((Abhinav.Parmar@thomsonreuters.com;))