Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 506,688 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 221,852 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.23% of W. P. Carey worth $31,567,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in W. P. Carey by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in W. P. Carey by 22.2% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,240,705 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $178,401,000 after acquiring an additional 588,636 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in W. P. Carey by 6.9% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,152,879 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $173,570,000 after acquiring an additional 204,064 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,598,618 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $161,894,000 after acquiring an additional 103,147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 2,524,490 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $138,973,000 after purchasing an additional 7,549 shares during the period. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WPC shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating and set a $63.00 target price (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group cut their price target on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Barclays restated an "underweight" rating and set a $59.00 price objective (up previously from $56.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $63.25.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 1.0 %

WPC traded up $0.55 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $55.08. 372,471 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,215,402. The company has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $53.09 and a one year high of $67.40. The company's fifty day moving average price is $56.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The company had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $377.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.32 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.88 per share. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.39%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 138.58%.

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.