Associated Banc Corp Cuts Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Associated Banc Corp decreased its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,693 shares during the period. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,199,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,641,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,926,000 after purchasing an additional 43,197 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 660.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,054,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,969,000 after purchasing an additional 1,784,131 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,870,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $101,918,000 after purchasing an additional 389,107 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 21.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,514,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $94,325,000 after purchasing an additional 264,230 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

W. P. Carey stock opened at $62.64 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.31. The company has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.91 and a 1 year high of $66.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.68%. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is 168.42%.

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.