Private Advisor Group LLC Reduces Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 71,263 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,821 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $4,619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WPC. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its position in W. P. Carey by 130.0% during the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 2,516,956 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $136,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,422,490 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 6,411.6% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 410,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,579,000 after buying an additional 403,803 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 17.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,285,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,592,000 after buying an additional 334,635 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at $17,750,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 4,604.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 233,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,606,000 after acquiring an additional 228,136 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays began coverage on W. P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Raymond James lowered W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.18.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $57.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $12.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. W. P. Carey Inc. has a twelve month low of $51.36 and a twelve month high of $73.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $56.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.94.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 33.65%. The business had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.865 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.98%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 131.56%.

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.