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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in 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. Based on an average trading volume of 1,220,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.3 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on WPC. BMO Capital Markets upgraded W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Barclays upped their target price on W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:WPC traded up $0.02 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $61.75. The company had a trading volume of 134,075 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,100,888. The company has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. W. P. Carey has a 1 year low of $52.91 and a 1 year high of $66.10. The company has a 50-day moving average of $59.00 and a 200 day moving average of $58.36.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.76%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.33%.

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.