State Street Corp Lowers Position in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

State Street Corp cut its stake in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,209,342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 245,975 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 5.58% of W.P. Carey worth $772,355,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WPC. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 1.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,606,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $286,581,000 after purchasing an additional 87,150 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in W.P. Carey by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,769,189 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $172,742,000 after purchasing an additional 106,879 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in W.P. Carey by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,696,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $170,198,000 after buying an additional 55,615 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,551,251 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $159,147,000 after buying an additional 120,498 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $151,411,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $65.39 on Friday. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.91 and a 52-week high of $69.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.00 and a 200 day moving average of $65.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.63, a P/E/G ratio of 6.21 and a beta of 0.78.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced 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 business had revenue of $431.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.44 million. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 4.40% and a net margin of 21.75%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.18 EPS. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.6%. This is a boost from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 220.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their target price on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of W.P. Carey from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.60.

W.P. Carey Profile

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.