Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 227,646 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP decreased its stake in W.P. Carey by 71.2%, selling 227,646 shares during the first quarter and holding 92,092 shares worth $5.81 million.
• W.P. Carey reported an EPS of $1.28 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates by $0.05 and showing a 10.5% increase in revenue year-over-year.
• The company's quarterly dividend was raised to $0.90, resulting in an annual yield of 5.4%, with a payout ratio of 236.84%.

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 71.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 92,092 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 227,646 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP's holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $5,812,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. IAG Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 2.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. SouthState Corp grew its stake in W.P. Carey by 15.7% in the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 1,439 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Applied Finance Capital Management LLC grew its stake in W.P. Carey by 4.2% in 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 buying an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. 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 research note on Friday, August 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Barclays raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI raised 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 note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W.P. Carey currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $65.89.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

NYSE WPC traded up $0.60 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $67.08. The company had a trading volume of 850,711 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,204,948. 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 stock has a market cap of $14.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.13, a P/E/G ratio of 9.80 and a beta of 0.82. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $64.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $62.60. W.P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.91 and a fifty-two week high of $67.40.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $430.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $420.99 million. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 20.42% and a return on equity of 4.00%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.17 EPS. 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 fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. W.P. Carey's payout ratio is 236.84%.

About W.P. Carey

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.