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

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of 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 company’s 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 Stock Down 1.3 %

W. P. Carey stock opened at $61.37 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $61.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.08. W. P. Carey has a twelve month low of $52.91 and a twelve month high of $66.10.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.80%. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 170.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.75.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On W. P. Carey

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at about $139,381,000. Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 10,001.1% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 998,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,387,000 after purchasing an additional 988,409 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in W. P. Carey by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,022,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $219,170,000 after purchasing an additional 906,622 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 40.3% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,442,000. Hedge funds and other 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.