W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) CAO Brian H. Zander Sells 440 Shares

W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) CAO Brian H. Zander sold 440 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.65, for a total transaction of $24,926.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 7,237 shares in the company, valued at $409,976.05. This represents a 5.73 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC stock opened at $57.10 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $12.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.09 and a 52 week high of $67.40. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $59.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.22.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $394.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.32 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.875 per share. 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 positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 137.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On W. P. Carey

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WPC. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 93.1% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 231 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP raised its position in W. P. Carey by 175.9% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WPC. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. 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 research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of 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, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.88.

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.