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W. P. Carey (WPC) Cheers Investors With Quarterly Dividend Hike

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W. P. Carey Inc. (WPC - Free Report) announced a sequential hike in its quarterly cash dividend. The company will now pay a dividend of $1.048 per share, up from $1.046 paid out earlier. The increased dividend will be paid out on Apr 15, 2021, to shareholders of record as of Mar 31, 2021.

Based on the increased rate, the annual dividend comes to $4.19 a share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.7%, considering W. P. Carey’sclosing price of $68.02 on Mar 11.

Solid dividend payouts remain the biggest enticement for investors in real estate investment trusts (REIT) and the company remains committed to boosting shareholder wealth. In fact, it has consistently increased dividends every year since going public in 1998. Since then, the annual dividend per share has increased from $1.65 to $4.17 in 2020.

The company’s portfolio of operationally-critical commercial real estate, which it leases back to creditworthy tenants on a long-term basis, with built-in rent escalators, indicates its operational strength and will likely enable the company to continue rewarding shareholders handsomely. In fact, it focuses on investing in high-quality single-tenant industrial, warehouse, office, retail and self-storage properties. These properties are located mainly in the United States, and Northern and Western Europe.

W. P. Carey’s rent collections also continue to be encouraging, with the company collecting 97% of February rent due (as a percentage of annualized base rent). Particularly, its rent collections have been robust across the self-storage, industrial, office and warehouse properties with 100%, 99%, 99% and 96% of collections, respectively. These are likely to support its cash flows and liquidity in the upcoming period.

However, rent collection continues to lag in the company’s fitness, theater and restaurant portfolio, with only 76% of rent collections for February. Also, amid the pandemic-led uncertainties and related impacts on economic activity, the demand for a number of real estates and W. P. Carey’s portfolio is likely to be affected.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) company have declined 7.9% over the past year against the industry’s growth of 12.8%.

 


Stocks to Consider

Alpine Income Property Trust, Inc.’s (PINE - Free Report) funds from operations (FFO) per share estimates for the current year have moved up 5.4% to $1.55 in the past month. The company sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy), currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Extra Space Storage Inc.’s (EXR - Free Report) Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 FFO per share has moved up 3.2% to $5.84 in the past month. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy).

Global Net Lease, Inc. (GNL - Free Report) has a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 FFO per share has been revised 4% at $2.10 in a week’s time.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represent funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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