W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Short Interest Down 18.5% in April

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,890,000 shares, a decrease of 18.5% from the March 31st total of 7,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,390,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.2 days.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

WPC stock traded up $0.67 on Monday, reaching $55.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,150,955 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,351,863. The company’s fifty day moving average is $55.99 and its 200 day moving average is $58.86. The company has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.62. W. P. Carey has a 1 year low of $51.36 and a 1 year high of $74.66.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 40.68%. The business had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.865 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.21%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.85%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WPC. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lowered W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.36.

Institutional Trading of W. P. Carey

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WPC. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.6% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 823,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $46,477,000 after purchasing an additional 21,045 shares during the period. Prairiewood Capital LLC grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Prairiewood Capital LLC now owns 59,160 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,339,000 after buying an additional 4,923 shares during the period. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at about $30,000. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 1st quarter valued at about $535,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 202,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,424,000 after acquiring an additional 10,508 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

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.