Royal Bank of Canada Purchases 4,125 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. by 1.7%, now owning over 252,000 shares valued at approximately $15.9 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Millennium Management LLC and Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., significantly boosted their holdings in W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter, indicating strong institutional interest in the real estate investment trust.
• W.P. Carey recently announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.90 per share, reflecting a yield of 5.3% and a total annualized dividend of $3.60.

Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 252,264 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 4,125 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.12% of W.P. Carey worth $15,921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WPC. von Borstel & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 100.8% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 482 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at $37,000. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 60.0% in the 1st quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WPC shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 20th. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 price target on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 9th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of W.P. Carey from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.78.

W.P. Carey Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE WPC traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $68.69. The company had a trading volume of 1,041,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,097,273. The company has a current ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The company's fifty day moving average is $65.08 and its 200-day moving average is $63.02. The company has a market cap of $15.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.97 and a beta of 0.82. W.P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $52.91 and a one year high of $68.98.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last issued 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 during 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%. W.P. Carey's quarterly revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.870-4.950 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

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.