Continental Investors Services Inc. Takes Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Continental Investors Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC – Get Rating) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,944 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 28,116,658 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,962,542,000 after buying an additional 304,592 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 17.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 9,572,789 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $783,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400,997 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 22.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,557,470 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $211,913,000 after purchasing an additional 460,939 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 37.7% during the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 1,960,968 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $136,875,000 after purchasing an additional 537,114 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 5.4% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,915,703 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $154,866,000 after purchasing an additional 97,795 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Stock Down 1.2 %

WPC opened at $77.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $67.76 and a 1-year high of $89.63. The company has a market capitalization of $16.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.97, a PEG ratio of 11.42 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.58.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be given a $1.067 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 30th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. This represents a $4.27 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.50%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 142.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPC has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 13th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 19th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Capital One Financial restated an “overweight” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.80.

W. P. Carey Company Profile

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W.P. Carey, Inc is an investment trust company, which engages in the commercial real estate business. It operates through the Real Estate and Investment Management segments. The Real Estate segment owns and invests in commercial real estate properties. The Investment Management segment structures and negotiates investments and debt placement transactions for real estate investment trusts, and manages portfolios of real estate investments.