Royal Bank of Canada Cuts W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) Price Target to $63.00

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) had its target price trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada from $65.00 to $63.00 in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on WPC. Raymond James downgraded W. P. Carey from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an equal weight rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $63.18.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 1.4 %

WPC stock opened at $56.68 on Friday. W. P. Carey has a one year low of $51.36 and a one year high of $73.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.90. The company has a fifty day moving average of $55.87 and a 200-day moving average of $58.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 33.65%. The firm had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 earnings per share. W. P. Carey’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that W. P. Carey will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.865 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is currently 131.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WPC. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at about $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

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.