Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lowered its position in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,838 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,745 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 130.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,585 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after buying an additional 15,600 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in W. P. Carey by 16.9% in the 4th quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 156,091 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,504,000 after buying an additional 22,516 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in W. P. Carey by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,637 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $688,000 after buying an additional 4,088 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Financial LLC purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the 4th quarter worth about $194,000. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in W. P. Carey by 234.6% in the 4th quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 51,003 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,779,000 after buying an additional 35,761 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of WPC opened at $61.88 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $60.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.38. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.91 and a 1 year high of $66.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). W. P. Carey had a net margin of 29.11% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The company had revenue of $407.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.99 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.89 dividend. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.75%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 183.51%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.88.

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.