W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,514,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $94,325,000 after acquiring an additional 264,230 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 20.4% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 165,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $9,898,000 after purchasing an additional 28,022 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the third quarter worth $262,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 31.4% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 27,551 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after buying an additional 6,586 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in W. P. Carey by 323.4% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 47,132 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,921,000 after buying an additional 36,001 shares in the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

NYSE WPC opened at $54.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $56.18 and its 200-day moving average is $57.92. W. P. Carey has a 12-month low of $53.09 and a 12-month high of $67.40.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The company’s revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that W. P. Carey will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is presently 138.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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