W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) reached a new 52-week high on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $58.00 to $66.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. W. P. Carey traded as high as $66.10 and last traded at $65.53, with a volume of 55911 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.77.

WPC has been the topic of several other research reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. P. Carey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.25.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,820,665 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,679,110,000 after buying an additional 242,576 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,709,028 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $256,201,000 after acquiring an additional 135,090 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,022,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $219,170,000 after purchasing an additional 906,622 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in W. P. Carey by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,641,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $143,926,000 after purchasing an additional 43,197 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,641,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,894,000 after purchasing an additional 758,627 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $57.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $14.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 168.42%.

W. P. Carey Company Profile

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.