Truist Financial Corp Reduces Stock Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its position in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,730 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 28,445 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $8,648,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 64,709 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the period. Demars Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.2% during the third quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 9,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on WPC shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.38.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $61.68 on Friday. W. P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.91 and a fifty-two week high of $64.26. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.68. The company has a market capitalization of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.71%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 168.42%.

W. P. Carey Company 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.