W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Shares Sold by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV decreased its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 54.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,412 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 81,408 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $3,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of WPC. Quarry LP increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 175.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Maia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 2,374.1% in the 3rd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC boosted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 962.5% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 680 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WPC has been the topic of a number of research reports. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $59.00 price objective (up previously from $56.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.43.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $55.96 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $55.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $57.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $52.91 and a one year high of $64.26. The company has a market cap of $12.25 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 0.97.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.62). The firm had revenue of $394.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.29%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 138.58%.

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.