W. P. Carey Inc. (WPC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.88 on October 15th

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.875 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87.

W. P. Carey has decreased its dividend by an average of 0.9% per year over the last three years. W. P. Carey has a payout ratio of 156.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect W. P. Carey to earn $4.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.2%.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $62.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The stock has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $59.52 and its 200 day moving average is $57.41. W. P. Carey has a 52 week low of $51.36 and a 52 week high of $67.40.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $389.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.30.

Insider Transactions at W. P. Carey

In other news, Director Mark A. Alexander bought 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $55.87 per share, for a total transaction of $195,545.00. Following the purchase, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.08% 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.