Capital Square LLC Lowers Stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Capital Square LLC reduced its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 48,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,710 shares during the quarter. W. P. Carey makes up approximately 1.5% of Capital Square LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Capital Square LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $2,668,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $139,381,000. Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 10,001.1% in the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 998,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,387,000 after purchasing an additional 988,409 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,022,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $219,170,000 after buying an additional 906,622 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth about $31,442,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp grew its stake in W. P. Carey by 26.3% during the 4th quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,870,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $101,918,000 after buying an additional 389,107 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $61.36 on Thursday. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $66.10. The firm has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $61.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.80%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

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.