Insider Buying: W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Director Buys 3,500 Shares of Stock

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Director Mark A. Alexander acquired 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $55.87 per share, with a total value of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,129,987.88. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC traded down $0.47 during trading on Monday, reaching $55.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,160,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,303,847. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $56.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.04. The company has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.93. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.36 and a 52-week high of $67.40.

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

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th were given a $0.87 dividend. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.32%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey during the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 93.1% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in W. P. Carey during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WPC. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Friday, June 21st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of 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. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.91.

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.