Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Acquires 40,710 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 112,330 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 40,710 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $6,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WPC. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 93.1% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WPC. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Friday, June 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.30.

W. P. Carey Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of WPC stock opened at $62.57 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.93 and a current ratio of 1.93. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.36 and a 52-week high of $67.40. The company has a market capitalization of $13.69 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $59.78 and its 200 day moving average is $57.53.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.47). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The business had revenue of $389.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 133.08%.

Insider Activity at W. P. Carey

In other news, Director Mark A. Alexander bought 3,500 shares of W. P. Carey stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $55.87 per share, with a total value of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,987.88. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

W. P. Carey Company 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.