State of Michigan Retirement System Buys 1,200 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 2.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 53,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $3,031,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of WPC. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 91.9% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,290,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $731,800,000 after acquiring an additional 5,407,289 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at $157,107,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 44.7% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,640,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $235,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,124,010 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 4,716.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 802,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,005,000 after buying an additional 785,766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in W. P. Carey by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,784,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,995,114,000 after buying an additional 657,188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPC has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank raised their target price on W. P. Carey from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on W. P. Carey in a report on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $59.70.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

WPC stock opened at $54.91 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $56.60 and a 200-day moving average of $58.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.93. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $51.36 and a 12 month high of $73.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.34%. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 132.32%.

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.