581,377 Shares in W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC Acquired by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 581,377 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $41,568,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey in the second quarter worth $2,371,801,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 6,982.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 27,759,661 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,984,816,000 after buying an additional 27,367,721 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,329,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $844,065,000 after buying an additional 119,817 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in W.P. Carey by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,795,604 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $307,913,000 after buying an additional 110,306 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in W.P. Carey by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,904,767 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,311,000 after buying an additional 12,305 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Bank of America upgraded shares of W.P. Carey from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $73.00 to $83.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. BNP Paribas Exane upgraded shares of W.P. Carey from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $73.00 to $88.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of W.P. Carey from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $80.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.38.

W.P. Carey Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $70.33 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.75. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $63.08 and a 52-week high of $77.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 0.22 and a current ratio of 0.22.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were issued a $0.94 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.3%. W.P. Carey’s payout ratio is 128.33%.

W.P. Carey Profile

W. P. Carey Inc is a diversified net-lease real estate investment trust specializing in single-tenant commercial properties. The company structures sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions to provide long-term net lease financing across a variety of asset classes, including industrial facilities, office buildings, retail centers and self-storage facilities. By employing triple net leases, W. P. Carey transfers property operating expenses, taxes and maintenance responsibility to tenants, creating a stable, predictable income stream for investors.

Founded in 1973 by William Polk Carey, the firm has expanded organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.