Schroder Investment Management Group Buys 115,522 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 69.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 282,368 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 115,522 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group owned 0.13% of W. P. Carey worth $15,169,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,820,665 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,679,110,000 after buying an additional 242,576 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,641,815 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $143,926,000 after purchasing an additional 43,197 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth $139,381,000. Finally, Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,870,734 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $101,918,000 after buying an additional 389,107 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on WPC. BMO Capital Markets raised W. P. Carey from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, W. P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Trading Down 1.7 %

WPC stock traded down $0.95 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $56.01. The company had a trading volume of 1,333,222 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,183,238. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $66.10. The stock has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.80, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $60.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.23.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.36%. This is an increase from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is 170.33%.

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.