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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $60.91.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WPC shares. Scotiabank decreased their price target on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 12th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 30th.

Insider Buying and Selling at W. P. Carey

In other news, Director Mark A. Alexander purchased 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was purchased 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,987.88. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its holdings in W. P. Carey by 93.1% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $58.48 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $56.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $56.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.93 and a quick ratio of 0.90. W. P. Carey has a one year low of $51.36 and a one year high of $67.40. The company has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.92.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The business’s revenue was down 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.36 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were issued a $0.87 dividend. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.95%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 132.32%.

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.