Acadian Asset Management LLC Acquires 6,159 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Key Points

• Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. by 15.9%, now owning 44,851 shares valued at approximately $2.83 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Geneos Wealth Management and Focus Partners Wealth, also raised their holdings in W.P. Carey, contributing to a total institutional ownership of 73.73%.
• W.P. Carey recently reported an EPS of $1.28 for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with a net margin of 20.42% and a year-over-year revenue increase of 10.5%.

Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 15.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 44,851 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 6,159 shares during the quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC's holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $2,827,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 274.7% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,112,190 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $322,630,000 after purchasing an additional 3,747,898 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 1,016.8% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 1,751,921 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $110,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,595,045 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the 1st quarter worth $30,194,000. Private Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the 1st quarter worth $29,923,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 514.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 538,933 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $29,361,000 after purchasing an additional 451,262 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WPC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded W.P. Carey from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, September 11th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on W.P. Carey from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $67.22.

W.P. Carey Trading Down 0.4%

WPC stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $67.17. The company had a trading volume of 3,449,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,062,748. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $69.00. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $65.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.14. The stock has a market cap of $14.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.19, a PEG ratio of 9.82 and a beta of 0.82.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $430.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $420.99 million. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 4.00% and a net margin of 20.42%.The business's revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.870-4.950 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.91 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.4%. W.P. Carey's payout ratio is currently 236.84%.

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.