Equity Investment Corp Has $123.03 Million Position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 4.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,949,395 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 78,661 shares during the quarter. W.P. Carey makes up 2.8% of Equity Investment Corp's portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Equity Investment Corp owned 0.89% of W.P. Carey worth $123,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W.P. Carey by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,820,665 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,679,110,000 after acquiring an additional 242,576 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in W.P. Carey by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,709,028 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $256,201,000 after purchasing an additional 135,090 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,218,419 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $266,224,000 after purchasing an additional 195,466 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,641,229 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $143,894,000 after buying an additional 758,627 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth approximately $139,381,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W.P. Carey Trading Up 0.1%

WPC stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $61.75. 918,002 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,158,695. W.P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $52.91 and a one year high of $66.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The company has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a PE ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 0.78. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $62.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.38.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last released 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). W.P. Carey had a net margin of 26.66% and a return on equity of 5.02%. The business had revenue of $407.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.14 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.83%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This is a boost from W.P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. W.P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is 185.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced 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. Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on 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. Barclays set a $61.00 price objective on W.P. Carey and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded W.P. Carey from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $66.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, June 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $104.22.

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.