W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC Stock Purchased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,088 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 25,334 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of W.P. Carey worth $12,285,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey by 1.5% during the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,393,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,635,484 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $105,701,000 after purchasing an additional 122,919 shares during the last quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in W.P. Carey by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 33,387 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,158,000 after purchasing an additional 4,576 shares in the last quarter. M&G PLC bought a new position in W.P. Carey in the 3rd quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its stake in W.P. Carey by 31.2% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 5,150 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,226 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Benchmark started coverage on shares of W.P. Carey in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $76.00 to $68.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 24th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of W.P. Carey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $88.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of W.P. Carey from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 4th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.79.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC opened at $64.84 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.99. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $62.19 and a 12 month high of $77.22. The company has a market cap of $14.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.75.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.09). W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 7.67% and a net margin of 35.60%. The business had revenue of $468.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $457.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 5.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.95 per share. This represents a $3.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.9%. This is a boost from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.94. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. W.P. Carey’s payout ratio is 131.03%.

W.P. Carey Profile

W.P. Carey Inc. is a real estate investment trust that owns and manages commercial properties leased to businesses under long-term net leases. Under these arrangements, tenants typically pay property expenses such as taxes, insurance and maintenance in addition to rent. The company’s portfolio focuses primarily on industrial and warehouse properties, along with retail and self-storage facilities. Its properties serve tenants in the United States and Europe. In 2023, W.P. Carey separated its office properties into a new, publicly traded company as part of a shift toward its other property types.