W.P. Carey Inc. (WPC) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.92 on January 15th

W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.92 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, January 15th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.7%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. This is a 1.1% increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.91.

W.P. Carey has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. W.P. Carey has a payout ratio of 135.3% indicating that 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 $3.64 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 77.1%.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of WPC opened at $64.88 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $14.22 billion, a PE ratio of 39.32, a PEG ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 0.78. W.P. Carey has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $69.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.68.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $431.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.44 million. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 4.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. Analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of W.P. Carey

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 47,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,022,000 after purchasing an additional 3,504 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 31.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 110,157 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,950,000 after buying an additional 26,663 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 125,957 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,934,000 after buying an additional 1,728 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 10.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 72,070 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,548,000 after purchasing an additional 6,685 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in W.P. Carey by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 585,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,959,000 after acquiring an additional 8,482 shares during the last quarter. 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.