Royal Fund Management LLC Increases Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Royal Fund Management LLC increased its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,085 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 316.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the third quarter worth approximately $46,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of W. P. Carey stock traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $56.68. 1,392,562 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,164,508. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $51.36 and a one year high of $73.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 33.65%. The business had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a dividend of $0.865 per share. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is presently 131.56%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on WPC shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Raymond James lowered W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.18.

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.