Trust Co. of Vermont Acquires 2,500 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 859.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,791 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 231 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, YHB Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

W. P. Carey stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $57.35. 310,331 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,304,888. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52-week low of $51.36 and a 52-week high of $67.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $56.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.93. The company has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.92.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.47). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The firm had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $381.39 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.36 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.07%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 132.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $62.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.91.

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.