W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.88

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, September 19th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.875 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, October 15th. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87.

W. P. Carey has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.9% per year over the last three years. W. P. Carey has a payout ratio of 156.1% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities research analysts expect W. P. Carey to earn $4.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 75.2%.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

W. P. Carey stock opened at $62.32 on Friday. W. P. Carey has a twelve month low of $51.36 and a twelve month high of $67.40. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.94. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $59.52 and its 200 day moving average is $57.41.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.47). The company had revenue of $389.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The company’s revenue was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that W. P. Carey will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on WPC. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 12th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.30.

Insider Transactions at W. P. Carey

In related news, Director Mark A. Alexander bought 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $55.87 per share, for a total transaction of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,987.88. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 1.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.