Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. trimmed its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 11.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,980 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 532 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $251,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 118.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares during the period. Finally, Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $62.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a PE ratio of 29.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.80. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.91 and a 52-week high of $66.10. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.87 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.03.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by ($0.03). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 29.11%. The firm had revenue of $407.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. W. P. Carey’s revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.89 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.69%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is currently 183.51%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised 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. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Barclays set a $61.00 target price on shares of W. P. Carey and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.00.

W. P. Carey 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.