Short Interest in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Rises By 25.1%

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,640,000 shares, a growth of 25.1% from the March 15th total of 3,710,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 2.1% of the company's stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC stock traded down $0.07 during trading on Thursday, hitting $61.01. The company's stock had a trading volume of 250,093 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,178,500. The company has a market cap of $13.36 billion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $61.59 and a 200-day moving average of $58.12. W. P. Carey has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $66.10.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.84%. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is currently 170.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,820,665 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,679,110,000 after purchasing an additional 242,576 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,709,028 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $256,201,000 after purchasing an additional 135,090 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,022,953 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $219,170,000 after purchasing an additional 906,622 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,641,815 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $143,926,000 after purchasing an additional 43,197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 40.3% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,641,229 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $143,894,000 after purchasing an additional 758,627 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Company Profile

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.