Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New Investment in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,288 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $397,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. National Pension Service acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 118.6% in 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. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new position in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on WPC shares. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 price objective on W. P. Carey and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $100.40.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC traded down $0.07 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $63.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,203,542 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,169,278. The company's 50-day moving average is $61.14 and its 200-day moving average is $59.19. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $66.10. The firm has a market cap of $13.86 billion, a PE ratio of 30.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $407.44 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.99 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 5.37%. W. P. Carey's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.90 dividend. This is an increase from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.69%. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is presently 183.51%.

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.