W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) was the target of a large drop in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,630,000 shares, a drop of 13.5% from the November 30th total of 3,040,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,120,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.3 days.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $54.51 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.18 and a 200-day moving average of $57.90. W. P. Carey has a 52 week low of $53.09 and a 52 week high of $67.40. The company has a market capitalization of $11.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The company had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.43 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 138.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.7% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,481,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $92,305,000 after buying an additional 9,610 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 156,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,742,000 after purchasing an additional 46,181 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in W. P. Carey by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,319,000 after purchasing an additional 9,353 shares during the last quarter. Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the third quarter worth $1,692,000. Finally, abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 9.9% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 102,657 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,396,000 after purchasing an additional 9,229 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WPC has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $59.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.25.

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.