W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Hits New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• W.P. Carey Inc. reached a new 52-week high of $69.20, with the stock last trading at $69.16 and a volume of 65,977 shares exchanging hands.
• Several analysts have recently improved their ratings and target prices for W.P. Carey, with Wells Fargo upgrading it from "equal weight" to "overweight" and boosting the target price from $68.00 to $72.00.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.91 per share, up from the previous $0.90, representing an annual yield of 5.3%.

W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $69.20 and last traded at $69.16, with a volume of 65977 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $68.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WPC. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of W.P. Carey from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of W.P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $67.22.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19. The company has a market cap of $15.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.68, a PEG ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 0.81. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $66.57 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.42.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $430.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $420.99 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.870-4.950 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.91 per share. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. This is a boost from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. W.P. Carey's payout ratio is presently 239.47%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W.P. Carey

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in W.P. Carey in the second quarter valued at about $151,411,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 1,016.8% in the first 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. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 2,712.0% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 771,534 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $48,128,000 after purchasing an additional 744,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GRS Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $37,694,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company's stock.

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.

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