W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) Shares Sold by Argent Trust Co

Argent Trust Co lessened its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 19.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,123 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 968 shares during the period. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $227,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WPC. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 93.1% in the second 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 grew its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares during the period. Riverview Trust Co purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth $28,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.30.

W. P. Carey Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $62.32 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.93, a current ratio of 1.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.94. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.36 and a 52-week high of $67.40. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $57.41.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.12 by ($0.47). The firm had revenue of $389.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 34.83% and a return on equity of 6.50%. W. P. Carey’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.875 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.62%. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is 132.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other W. P. Carey news, Director Mark A. Alexander acquired 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $55.87 per share, with a total value of $195,545.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares in the company, valued at $2,129,987.88. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

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.