Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Grows Stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 32.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,940 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,433 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,013,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First United Bank & Trust bought a new stake in W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WPC. UBS Group began coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Friday, May 31st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.00 price target for the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on W. P. Carey from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $59.70.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

W. P. Carey stock traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $54.88. The company had a trading volume of 163,294 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,315,313. The company has a current ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.93. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.36 and a 52 week high of $73.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $56.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.53.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a $0.87 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.34%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 132.32%.

W. P. Carey Profile

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.