W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Short Interest Down 22.1% in March

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,640,000 shares, a decrease of 22.1% from the February 29th total of 7,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in W. P. Carey during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. First United Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Quarry LP raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 438.5% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 420 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WPC. Raymond James cut shares of W. P. Carey from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday. They set an "equal weight" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.36.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC stock traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $56.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,227,874 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,436,995. W. P. Carey has a fifty-two week low of $51.36 and a fifty-two week high of $78.23. The firm has a market cap of $12.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a PEG ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $58.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.07.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 40.68% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The business had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. The business's revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th will be given a $0.865 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.13%. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.85%.

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.