W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Jefferies Financial Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

WPC has been the topic of several other research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on W.P. Carey from $73.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Scotiabank cut their price target on W.P. Carey from $77.00 to $76.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 17th. Evercore set a $75.00 price objective on shares of W.P. Carey in a research report on Monday. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of W.P. Carey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of W.P. Carey from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.71.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC opened at $66.99 on Tuesday. W.P. Carey has a 1-year low of $63.08 and a 1-year high of $77.22. The stock has a market cap of $15.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.86, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $72.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 0.22 and a quick ratio of 0.22.

Institutional Trading of W.P. Carey

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,371,801,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth approximately $184,035,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in W.P. Carey in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $189,315,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in W.P. Carey in the 2nd quarter valued at $164,853,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the 2nd quarter worth $128,034,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About W.P. Carey

W.P. Carey Inc (NYSE: WPC) is a diversified real estate investment trust that owns and manages a portfolio of commercial properties leased to companies under long-term, primarily net lease agreements. Under these arrangements, tenants generally assume responsibility for property taxes, insurance and maintenance, allowing W.P. Carey to generate contractual rental income.

The company invests in and provides sale-leaseback and build-to-suit financing solutions for businesses. Its portfolio has historically included industrial and warehouse facilities, retail properties, office buildings, self-storage facilities and other commercial real estate.