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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $61.25.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WPC. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

W. P. Carey stock opened at $59.61 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $60.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $57.85. W. P. Carey has a one year low of $51.60 and a one 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 has a market cap of $13.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.94.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released 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). W. P. Carey had a net margin of 34.83% and a return on equity of 6.50%. The firm had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $381.39 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that W. P. Carey will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is currently 133.08%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark A. Alexander acquired 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,129,987.88. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 business. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter worth about $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 93.1% during the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.