Royal Fund Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Royal Fund Management LLC trimmed its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,099 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,957 shares during the period. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Cerity Partners LLC increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 15,420 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 762,912 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,444,000 after buying an additional 12,601 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 64.0% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 131,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,521,000 after buying an additional 51,320 shares during the last quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter worth approximately $274,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in W. P. Carey by 44.7% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,640,966 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $235,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,124,010 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mark A. Alexander acquired 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $55.87 per share, with a total value of $195,545.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 38,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,129,987.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.08% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

WPC stock traded up $0.33 during trading on Friday, reaching $57.23. The stock had a trading volume of 764,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,291,821. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $56.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $56.90. The firm has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.92. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.36 and a 52 week high of $67.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.12 by ($0.47). The business had revenue of $389.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $381.39 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.50% and a net margin of 34.83%. The company’s revenue was down 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate 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 paid a $0.87 dividend. This represents a $3.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. 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 132.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WPC shares. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on 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 lowered their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on W. P. Carey from $70.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 12th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on W. P. Carey from $57.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average 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.