Sheets Smith Wealth Management Trims Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management decreased its position in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 8.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 78,201 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 6,911 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $4,872,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.2% in the third quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 9,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 10,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $624,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 117,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,290,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Finally, ABLE Financial Group LLC bought a new position in W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $499,000. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank cut their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.25.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $56.73 on Friday. 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 $53.01 and a 12-month high of $67.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $58.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.33, a P/E/G ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 0.95.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.62). The company had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.875 per share. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.17%. 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 payout ratio is presently 137.80%.

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.