Ethos Financial Group LLC Buys New Position in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Key Points

• Ethos Financial Group LLC has acquired 5,893 shares of W.P. Carey Inc., valued at approximately $372,000, as part of its investment strategy.
• A variety of institutional investors have also increased their stakes in W.P. Carey, reflecting growing interest in the real estate investment trust, which is now 73.73% owned by institutional shareholders.
• W.P. Carey recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.90 per share, up from the previous $0.89, translating to an annualized payout of $3.60 and a dividend yield of 5.5%.

Ethos Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 5,893 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 7.0% in the first quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $157,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its stake in W.P. Carey by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 4,145 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $262,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in W.P. Carey by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,877 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $434,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 15.7% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,439 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 5,490 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $346,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on WPC. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded W.P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BNP Paribas set a $66.00 price objective on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $65.67.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPC traded down $0.1680 during trading on Thursday, hitting $66.4520. 657,149 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,239,751. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $66.80. The company has a market capitalization of $14.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.58 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The business's 50 day moving average is $63.78 and its 200-day moving average is $62.03.

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

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This is a boost from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. W.P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is presently 236.84%.

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.