Investment Management Corp of Ontario Has $334,000 Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Investment Management Corp of Ontario lowered its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,100 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WPC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at about $139,381,000. Demars Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 10,001.1% during the fourth quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 998,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,387,000 after buying an additional 988,409 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,022,953 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $219,170,000 after buying an additional 906,622 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,641,229 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,894,000 after buying an additional 758,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,442,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $60.06 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.78. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.91 and a 1-year high of $66.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $61.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.30.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $407.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $412.99 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 29.11%. W. P. Carey’s quarterly revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 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 Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.89 per share. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.93%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 183.51%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on WPC shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.88.

W. P. Carey 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.