W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• W.P. Carey Inc. experienced a significant increase in short interest, rising by 143.7% to a total of 4.07 million shares as of July 15.
• The company has recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.90, representing a 5.5% dividend yield on an annualized basis.
• W.P. Carey reported earnings of $1.28 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with revenue of $430.78 million, up 10.5% year-over-year.

W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 4,070,000 shares, anincreaseof143.7% from the June 30th total of 1,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days. Based on an average daily volume of 1,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on WPC. Barclays set a $61.00 price target on W.P. Carey and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 target price on W.P. Carey and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. UBS Group dropped their price target on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W.P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 274.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,112,190 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $322,630,000 after buying an additional 3,747,898 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 1,016.8% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,751,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $110,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,595,045 shares in the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 10,001.1% during the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 998,292 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $54,387,000 after acquiring an additional 988,409 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in W.P. Carey by 40.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 758,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,442,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC traded down $1.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.79. The stock had a trading volume of 1,711,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,354,406. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.19 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $63.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.35. W.P. Carey has a one year low of $52.91 and a one year high of $66.64. The firm has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.62, a P/E/G ratio of 9.66 and a beta of 0.78.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.05. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 20.42% and a return on equity of 4.00%. The company had revenue of $430.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $420.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. W.P. Carey's quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that W.P. Carey will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This is a boost from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. W.P. Carey's payout ratio is 236.84%.

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.