Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 124,374 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its position in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,116,331 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 124,374 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $194,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 23,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,475,000 after acquiring an additional 858 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new position in W. P. Carey in the third quarter valued at approximately $640,000. Napa Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Napa Wealth Management now owns 4,716 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $294,000 after buying an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 747.6% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 108,748 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,775,000 after buying an additional 95,918 shares during the period. Finally, Equity Investment Corp increased its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,481,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $92,305,000 after acquiring an additional 9,610 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $63.00 price target (up from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.88.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a market cap of $12.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $53.09 and a one year high of $67.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $59.08 and a 200-day moving average of $58.22.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its 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). The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.875 dividend. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is 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.