Principal Securities Inc. Sells 936 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Principal Securities Inc. lowered its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 6.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 936 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $773,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 64,709 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,031,000 after buying an additional 207 shares in the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 2.2% in the third quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 9,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in W. P. Carey by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report 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. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.38.

W. P. Carey Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $61.17 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $13.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $55.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $57.64. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $64.26.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is currently 168.42%.

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.