W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Upgraded at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $67.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous target price of $60.00.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the company. UBS Group reduced their price objective on 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. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.38.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC opened at $61.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. W. P. Carey has a 52-week low of $52.91 and a 52-week high of $64.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $55.78 and its 200-day moving average is $57.64.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 168.42%.

Institutional Trading of W. P. Carey

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.8% during the 4th 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 buying an additional 242,576 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 135,090 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 906,622 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $143,894,000 after acquiring an additional 758,627 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.