W.P. Carey Announces Dividend Hike: Is the Increase Sustainable?

W.P. Carey WPC recently announced a 1.1% hike in its dividend. WPC will now pay a quarterly cash dividend of 93 cents per share, up from 92 cents paid in the prior quarter. The increased amount will be paid out on April 15, 2026 to shareholders on record as of March 31, 2026. Based on the increased rate, the annual dividend comes to $3.72 a share, resulting in an annualized yield of 5.2%, considering WPC’s closing price of $71.81 on March 13, 2026.

Solid dividend payouts are arguably the biggest enticement for investment in REIT stocks. However, in December 2023, WPC reduced its dividend to 86 cents from the prior quarter's dividend payment of $1.07. The move resulted from the company’s strategic plan to exit its office assets and maintain a lower payout ratio. Thereafter, it maintained a disciplined capital distribution strategy and started increasing gradually, with the latest being its seventh dividend hike, which is encouraging. Check out W.P. Carey’s dividend history here.

WPC’s Dividend Payout: Sustainable or Not?

W.P. Carey has one of the largest portfolios of single-tenant net lease commercial real estate in the United States, and Northern and Western Europe. The company invests in assets that are mission-critical for its tenants’ operations. As such, due to the inherent nature of its portfolio, the REIT enjoys higher occupancy, which stood at 98% as of Dec. 31, 2025, and generates better risk-adjusted returns.

W.P. Carey’s portfolio is well-diversified by tenant, industry, property type and geography, aiding steady revenue generation. The existence of long-term net leases with built-in rent escalations yields stable cash flows. The company witnessed contractual same-store rent growth of 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025.

W.P. Carey has been capitalizing on growth opportunities. For 2026, management expects total investments between $1.25 billion and $1.75 billion, and total dispositions between $250 million and $750 million. The sale would largely include non-core assets comprising self-storage operating properties. The gross sale proceeds are to be used for funding value-accretive investments. Such match-funding efforts indicate the company’s prudent capital-management practices and will relieve pressure from its balance sheet, which is encouraging.

W.P. Carey has a healthy balance sheet position with ample liquidity. As of Dec. 31, 2025, the company had a total liquidity of $2.2 billion, including around $1.6 billion of available capacity under its senior unsecured credit facility, $155.3 million of cash and cash equivalents and $80.9 million of cash held at qualified intermediaries. The company’s share of net debt to adjusted EBITDA was 5.9X. It also enjoys investment-grade ratings of BBB+ from S&P Global Ratings and Baa1 from Moody’s, rendering it favorable access to the debt market.

With solid fundamentals and earnings performance, we expect the latest dividend rate to be sustainable in the long run. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have gained 9.2% over the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 3.7%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Other REITs That Recently Announced Dividend Increases

On March 11, Realty Income Corporation O, branded as “The Monthly Dividend Company,” announced another dividend boost, raising its monthly payout to 27.05 cents per share from 27 cents. While modest, it represents Realty Income’s 134th increase since its 1994 NYSE debut. Payable on April 15 to shareholders on record as of March 31, the hike equates to an annualized dividend of $3.246 compared with the prior annualized dividend amount of $3.240 per share. Realty Income presently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

On Feb. 12, Prologis Inc. PLD announced a 5.9% hike in its quarterly cash dividend to $1.07 per share from $1.01 paid out in the prior quarter. The increased dividend will be paid out on March 31 to stockholders on record as of the close of business on March 17. The latest dividend rate of PLD marks an annualized amount of $4.28 per share compared with the prior rate of $4.04. Prologis currently has a Zacks Rank #3.

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

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