Brian H. Zander Sells 440 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Stock

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) CAO Brian H. Zander sold 440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.65, for a total transaction of $24,926.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 7,237 shares in the company, valued at approximately $409,976.05. This trade represents a 5.73 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $58.95 and a 200 day moving average of $58.21. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. W. P. Carey Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.09 and a twelve month high of $67.40. The firm has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The business had revenue of $394.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 137.80%.

Institutional Trading of W. P. Carey

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WPC. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 2.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,240,705 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $178,401,000 after buying an additional 588,636 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 6.9% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,152,879 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $173,570,000 after acquiring an additional 204,064 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,598,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $161,894,000 after acquiring an additional 103,147 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in W. P. Carey by 0.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,524,490 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $138,973,000 after acquiring an additional 7,549 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.88.

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.