Equity Investment Corp Boosts Holdings in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Equity Investment Corp increased its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 4.2% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,949,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 78,661 shares during the period. W.P. Carey accounts for about 2.8% of Equity Investment Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Equity Investment Corp’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $123,026,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IAG Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. IAG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. raised its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.2% during the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 4,145 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 44,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,418,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors raised its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.3% during the first quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 6,909 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W.P. Carey Stock Down 2.8%

W.P. Carey stock opened at $61.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.06 and a beta of 0.78. W.P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.91 and a fifty-two week high of $66.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $62.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.37.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $407.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $412.99 million. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 26.66% and a return on equity of 5.02%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. Analysts predict that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.90 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.83%. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 185.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded W.P. Carey from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $66.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on W.P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays set a $61.00 price objective on W.P. Carey and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 price objective on W.P. Carey and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.P. Carey has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $104.22.

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.