Jump Financial LLC Buys New Stake in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Key Points

• Jump Financial LLC has acquired a new position worth approximately $4.61 million in W.P. Carey Inc., purchasing 72,966 shares in the first quarter.
• W.P. Carey has seen analysts raise their price targets, with UBS Group setting a new price objective of $66.00, reflecting a shift in analysts' views toward the stock.
• The company recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.90 per share, demonstrating a commitment to returning value to shareholders despite a high dividend payout ratio of 236.84%.

Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 72,966 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $4,605,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WPC. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in W.P. Carey in the 1st quarter worth $58,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in W.P. Carey by 40.9% in the 1st quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 8,451 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $533,000 after purchasing an additional 2,454 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in W.P. Carey by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 21,684 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,368,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the period. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in W.P. Carey by 81.1% in the 1st quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 12,178 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $769,000 after purchasing an additional 5,453 shares during the period. Finally, Compound Planning Inc. raised its holdings in W.P. Carey by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 8,276 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 2,313 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WPC shares. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI raised their price target on W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of W.P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $65.89.

W.P. Carey Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:WPC traded up $0.60 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.08. 850,711 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,242,030. The company has a fifty day moving average of $64.15 and a 200 day moving average of $62.46. W.P. Carey Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.91 and a twelve month high of $67.40. The company has a market capitalization of $14.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 44.13, a P/E/G ratio of 9.76 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a current ratio of 0.19.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.05. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 20.42% and a return on equity of 4.00%. The firm had revenue of $430.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $420.99 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. 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. On average, analysts forecast that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is a boost from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. W.P. Carey's payout ratio is currently 236.84%.

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.