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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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. Approximately 2.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,300,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.6 days.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of WPC stock traded up $0.90 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $62.18. The stock had a trading volume of 771,315 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,182,416. 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 capitalization of $13.62 billion, a PE ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. W. P. Carey has a 52-week low of $52.91 and a 52-week high of $66.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $61.40 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.09.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.89 dividend. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 170.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 242,576 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.0% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 29.1% during 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 buying an additional 906,622 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised 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 worth $143,926,000 after buying an additional 43,197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $143,894,000 after buying an additional 758,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on WPC. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

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.