United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Sells 837 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC cut its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 837 shares during the quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DF Dent & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 5,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $298,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in W. P. Carey by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 44,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in W. P. Carey by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group grew its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 11,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC opened at $61.37 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $13.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.36, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $66.10.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.89 dividend. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on WPC. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.75.

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.