KBC Group NV Sells 19,050 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

KBC Group NV decreased its holdings in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 49,362 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 19,050 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV's holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $3,115,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in W.P. Carey by 118.6% during the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth $48,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on WPC. 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. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W.P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on W.P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.60.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of W.P. Carey stock traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $63.00. The company had a trading volume of 441,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,167,456. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.95. The company has a market capitalization of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.04 and a beta of 0.78. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $66.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $407.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.99 million. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 26.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.71%. This is an increase from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. W.P. Carey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 185.57%.

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.