W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Short Interest Up 20.4% in February

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, a growth of 20.4% from the February 13th total of 3,390,000 shares. Currently, 1.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WPC. Scotiabank boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays boosted their price objective on W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded W. P. Carey from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $63.75.

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W. P. Carey Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:WPC traded up $0.02 during trading on Friday, hitting $61.62. 4,323,243 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,117,765. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $59.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.39. W. P. Carey has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $66.10.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.78%. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is presently 170.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. National Pension Service acquired a new position in W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 118.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the third quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.