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

Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.50.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WPC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of W.P. Carey in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised W.P. Carey from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, September 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on W.P. Carey from $79.00 to $74.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 416.8% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,892,462 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $263,014,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139,266 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in W.P. Carey in the second quarter worth about $151,411,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in W.P. Carey by 1,183.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,130,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $76,381,000 after purchasing an additional 1,042,334 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in W.P. Carey by 2,712.0% in 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 buying an additional 744,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in W.P. Carey by 331.0% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 861,430 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $58,207,000 after buying an additional 661,572 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of W.P. Carey stock opened at $64.82 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $66.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.77. W.P. Carey has a twelve month low of $52.91 and a twelve month high of $69.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.29, a PEG ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.78.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $431.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $424.44 million. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 4.40% and a net margin of 21.75%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.92 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.7%. This is an increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91. W.P. Carey’s payout ratio is presently 220.61%.

W.P. Carey Company Profile

W. P. Carey Inc is a diversified net-lease real estate investment trust specializing in single-tenant commercial properties. The company structures sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions to provide long-term net lease financing across a variety of asset classes, including industrial facilities, office buildings, retail centers and self-storage facilities. By employing triple net leases, W. P. Carey transfers property operating expenses, taxes and maintenance responsibility to tenants, creating a stable, predictable income stream for investors.

Founded in 1973 by William Polk Carey, the firm has expanded organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.