W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $63.25.

WPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WPC stock opened at $57.48 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.86, a PEG ratio of 1.11 and a beta of 0.94. W. P. Carey has a 1-year low of $51.60 and a 1-year high of $67.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 1.93. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.18.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The company’s revenue was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that W. P. Carey will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.875 dividend. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.09%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.08%.

Insider Transactions at W. P. Carey

In related news, Director Mark A. Alexander purchased 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $55.87 per share, with a total value of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,987.88. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of W. P. Carey

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Equity Investment Corp acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth $59,802,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 22.2% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,240,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $178,401,000 after purchasing an additional 588,636 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 185.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 684,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,631,000 after purchasing an additional 444,785 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 6,145.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 407,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,375,000 after purchasing an additional 400,782 shares during the period. Finally, PGGM Investments lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 18.5% in the second quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,498,975 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $137,569,000 after buying an additional 389,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

About W. P. Carey

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,424 net lease properties covering approximately 173 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties as of December 31, 2023.