W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Raises Dividend to $0.89 Per Share

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 13th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.89 per share by the real estate investment trust on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.78%. This is a 1.1% increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88.

W. P. Carey has decreased its dividend by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years. W. P. Carey has a dividend payout ratio of 130.9% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect W. P. Carey to earn $4.72 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 74.6%.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPC traded down $0.33 during trading on Thursday, hitting $61.60. 1,565,963 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,779. The company has a market cap of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.47, 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $58.27 and a 200 day moving average of $58.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WPC shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

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.