W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Shares Up 3.3% - Should You Buy?

Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) rose 3.3% during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $63.37 and last traded at $63.85. Approximately 174,941 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,160,259 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.81.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $63.75.

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W. P. Carey Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.44. The company has a market cap of $13.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.81%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is currently 170.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 91.7% in the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $347,000 after buying an additional 3,049 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 7.0% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 31,784 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 103.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 806,082 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $50,219,000 after buying an additional 409,593 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,267,000. Finally, Signet Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,942,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company's stock.

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.