Metis Global Partners LLC Buys 1,433 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 8.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 44.7% in the 4th 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. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 1.3% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 2,835,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $153,352,000 after buying an additional 37,055 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,337,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $126,388,000 after buying an additional 12,982 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 17.2% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,285,355 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $123,592,000 after acquiring an additional 334,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments raised its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 2,108,963 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $114,053,000 after acquiring an additional 142,649 shares in the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on W. P. Carey from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Raymond James lowered W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, W. P. Carey has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.18.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $56.76 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $12.42 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $58.95. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $51.36 and a one year high of $73.38.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $413.04 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 33.65%. W. P. Carey’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.29 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.53 EPS for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were given a $0.865 dividend. This represents a $3.46 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.10%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is presently 131.56%.

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.