Meritage Portfolio Management Boosts Stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 244.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 68,068 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $6,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WPC. Central Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 316.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of WPC stock traded down $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $55.43. The company had a trading volume of 513,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,345,714. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.13 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. W. P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.36 and a fifty-two week high of $74.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.07 and its 200 day moving average is $58.81.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.04 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 40.68% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.29 EPS. Research analysts expect that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.865 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.24%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WPC shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Raymond James cut shares of W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.36.

W. P. Carey Company 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.