W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC Shares Bought by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 24.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 44,696 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,754 shares during the quarter. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $2,788,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WPC. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its position in W.P. Carey by 100.8% in the 1st quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 482 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 242 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey in the first quarter valued at $37,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new position in W.P. Carey in the second quarter valued at $40,000. REAP Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in W.P. Carey by 56.4% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Finally, Hilltop National Bank acquired a new position in W.P. Carey during the 2nd quarter worth $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of WPC opened at $67.42 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.19. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $69.79. The stock has a market cap of $14.77 billion, a PE ratio of 40.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 9.57 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $67.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.80.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 4.40% and a net margin of 21.75%.The business had revenue of $431.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $424.44 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.18 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This is an increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.4%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 30th. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 220.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on W.P. Carey from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $64.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W.P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $67.89.

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.