This High-Yield Dividend Stock's Acquisition Growth Engine Sputtered in 2023 (Here's Why It Could Rev Back Up in 2024)
Last year didn't go as planned for W. P. Carey (NYSE: WPC). Higher interest rates and other headwinds forced the real estate investment trust (REIT) to tap the brakes on its growth plan. Because of that, the company didn't make nearly as many acquisitions as it initially expected.
However, with its headwinds fading, the REIT could be a much more active investor in 2024. That should enable it to start growing again. Rising income could eventually give it the fuel to start increasing its recently reset dividend (that still yields an attractive 5.2% after a nearly 20% cut in December).
W. P. Carey initially expected to make between $1.75 billion and $2.25 billion of new investments last year, partially funded by selling $300 million to $400 million of existing properties. Achieving the low end of that guidance range would have set a new record for the REIT (topping 2021's total of $1.73 billion). It would have also been higher than 2022's total of $1.42 billion.
Source Fool.com
