W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Shares Sold by LPL Financial LLC

LPL Financial LLC reduced its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 699,961 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,335 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $38,134,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WPC. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in W. P. Carey by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,641,815 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,926,000 after buying an additional 43,197 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 660.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,054,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,969,000 after buying an additional 1,784,131 shares in the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,870,734 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $101,918,000 after acquiring an additional 389,107 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,514,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $94,325,000 after acquiring an additional 264,230 shares in the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WPC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $56.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

W. P. Carey stock opened at $62.67 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $58.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $52.91 and a 52-week high of $66.10.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.89 dividend. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.68%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 170.33%.

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.