Raymond James Trust N.A. Increases Stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 11.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,327 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,422 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 91.9% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 11,290,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $731,800,000 after purchasing an additional 5,407,289 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at $157,107,000. Equity Investment Corp purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at $59,802,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 4,716.5% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 802,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $52,005,000 after purchasing an additional 785,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,784,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,995,114,000 after acquiring an additional 657,188 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 0.3 %

WPC traded up $0.19 on Monday, hitting $60.24. The company had a trading volume of 44,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,269,644. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.92. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.36 and a 1 year high of $67.40. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $57.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were paid a dividend of $0.87 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.78%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 132.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W. P. Carey news, Director Mark A. Alexander purchased 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $55.87 per share, for a total transaction of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,987.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on WPC. Scotiabank reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Friday, June 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.09.

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.