Equity Investment Corp Grows Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Equity Investment Corp grew its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC - Free Report) by 0.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,481,627 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 9,610 shares during the quarter. W. P. Carey accounts for 2.1% of Equity Investment Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Equity Investment Corp owned about 0.68% of W. P. Carey worth $92,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WPC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 35.9% in the 3rd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 651 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.2% in the second quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC now owns 4,033 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.4% in the second quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 6,070 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 199 shares during the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 64,709 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 207 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WPC. 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. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.88.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 0.8 %

WPC traded up $0.46 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $56.23. 1,023,788 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,214,853. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.09 and a 12-month high of $67.40. The firm has a market cap of $12.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.41 and a 200 day moving average of $58.24.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The company had revenue of $394.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.43 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.32 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.22%. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey's previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. W. P. Carey's dividend payout ratio is presently 137.80%.

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.