Romano Brothers AND Company Cuts Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Romano Brothers AND Company lowered its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 2.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 54,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,495 shares during the period. Romano Brothers AND Company’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $3,675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of WPC. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in W. P. Carey during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new position in W. P. Carey during the first quarter worth approximately $488,000. Natixis Advisors L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth $1,016,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth $26,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the first quarter worth $305,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Bank of America lowered shares of W. P. Carey from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $67.00 in a research report on Monday, August 14th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, June 14th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $74.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $86.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $81.00 to $79.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, W. P. Carey presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.29.

W. P. Carey Stock Down 0.2 %

WPC stock traded down $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $63.00. 248,976 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 985,178. The company has a market capitalization of $13.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.11 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. W. P. Carey Inc. has a twelve month low of $62.68 and a twelve month high of $85.94. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.41.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 8.28% and a net margin of 45.21%. The business had revenue of $452.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $430.48 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 31.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 5.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, October 16th. Investors of record on Friday, September 29th will be given a $1.071 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 28th. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.07. This represents a $4.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.80%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 119.89%.

About W. P. Carey

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with an enterprise value of approximately $23 billion and a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,475 net lease properties covering approximately 180 million square feet and a portfolio of 85 self-storage operating properties, as of June 30, 2023.