Principal Financial Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 506,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 221,852 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $31,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WPC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV lifted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 175.9% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey during the second quarter worth approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.25.

W. P. Carey Trading Down 1.8 %

Shares of WPC stock opened at $55.72 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. W. P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.01 and a fifty-two week high of $67.40. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.23. The stock has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The business had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.28%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 137.80%.

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.