Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Grows Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 140,454 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,367 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of W. P. Carey worth $9,103,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WPC. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 16,922 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Gradient Capital Advisors LLC now owns 34,180 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,215,000 after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Capital Planning Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Planning Advisors LLC now owns 3,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $214,000 after acquiring an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Planning Co of New England Inc. now owns 4,881 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $264,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $56.76 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.36 and a 52-week high of $73.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.04 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 33.65% and a return on equity of 6.41%. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.865 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.10%. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 131.56%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on WPC. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James downgraded W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.18.

About W. P. Carey

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.