Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 73,813 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has reduced its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. by 0.2% during the first quarter, now owning approximately 30.7 million shares, valued at nearly $1.94 billion.
• W.P. Carey recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.90, representing an annualized dividend of $3.60 and a yield of 5.5%.
• Analysts have a mixed outlook on W.P. Carey, with an average rating of "Hold" and a target price of $65.00, reflecting a range of ratings from sell to buy among research firms.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 0.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 30,746,852 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 73,813 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 14.04% of W.P. Carey worth $1,940,434,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the first quarter worth $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 100.8% in the first quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 482 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the first quarter worth $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 118.6% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on WPC shares. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of W.P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 9th. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 target price on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Barclays set a $61.00 price objective on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $65.00.

W.P. Carey Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of WPC stock traded down $0.28 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $65.60. 893,843 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,383,764. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.91 and a 12 month high of $66.64. The company has a market cap of $14.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.16, a P/E/G ratio of 9.62 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 company's 50-day moving average price is $63.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.64.

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, 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 analysts' expectations of $420.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. W.P. Carey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.