Sheets Smith Wealth Management Purchases 475 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management grew its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 84,032 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 475 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $5,446,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 44.7% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,640,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $235,971,000 after buying an additional 1,124,010 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 99.7% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 351,187 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,810,000 after purchasing an additional 175,347 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $613,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 58,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,811,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Kokusai Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 219,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,852,000 after purchasing an additional 10,562 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

W. P. Carey stock traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $56.68. 1,392,562 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,164,508. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $55.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.90. The company has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. W. P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.36 and a fifty-two week high of $73.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 33.65%. The firm had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.865 dividend. This represents a $3.46 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 131.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays started coverage on W. P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Raymond James downgraded shares of W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.18.

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.