Barclays Reaffirms "Underweight" Rating for W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC)

Barclays restated their underweight rating on shares of W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Barclays currently has a $59.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust's stock, up from their prior price objective of $56.00.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on WPC. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $63.00 target price (up from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of 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. JMP Securities restated a "market perform" rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. P. Carey currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.25.

W. P. Carey Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE WPC traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $56.38. 1,305,089 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,207,536. The stock has a market cap of $12.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.19, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.03. W. P. Carey has a 1-year low of $53.09 and a 1-year high of $67.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The firm had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $377.43 million. During the same quarter last 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. On average, analysts expect that W. P. Carey will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.24%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is presently 138.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of WPC. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 249.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 946 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 360,517 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $19,846,000 after purchasing an additional 68,886 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 2nd quarter worth about $346,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 12.8% during the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,117 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307 shares during the period. Finally, &PARTNERS purchased a new position in W. P. Carey during the 2nd quarter valued at about $412,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.