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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) was the target of a large increase in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,080,000 shares, an increase of 20.4% from the February 13th total of 3,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,220,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.3 days. Approximately 1.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WPC has been the subject of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective 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 upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. National Pension Service bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the third quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC traded up $0.02 during trading on Thursday, reaching $61.75. 134,075 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,100,888. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a PE ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.76%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio 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.