Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Trims Position in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc decreased its position in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 24.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 75,820 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 24,021 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $4,730,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 32,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,011,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the last quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 0.6% in the second quarter. BridgePort Financial Solutions LLC now owns 28,681 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,789,000 after buying an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group grew its position in W.P. Carey by 1.5% during the second quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 12,005 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 181 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 3.3% during the second quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 5,779 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $360,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 6.3% during the second quarter. Motco now owns 3,139 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $201,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WPC shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of W.P. Carey from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on W.P. Carey from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on W.P. Carey from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.89.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $67.24 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $67.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.17. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $69.79. The stock has a market cap of $14.74 billion, a PE ratio of 40.75, a P/E/G ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.02. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 4.40% and a net margin of 21.75%.The firm had revenue of $431.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 8.5% on a year-over-year basis. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.4%. This is a boost from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. W.P. Carey’s payout ratio is presently 220.61%.

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.