Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Decreases Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund cut its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 46.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 57,178 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 48,716 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $3,706,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 1,164,290 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $75,458,000 after acquiring an additional 51,682 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 139,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,015,000 after purchasing an additional 6,921 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,623,000 after purchasing an additional 1,129 shares during the period. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC now owns 34,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 65.3% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,341 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $476,000 after purchasing an additional 2,899 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on WPC. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Barclays began coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered shares of W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.36.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $56.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company has a market capitalization of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $58.82. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.36 and a 12-month high of $74.66.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 40.68% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The business had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.865 dividend. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.85%.

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.