Archer Investment Corp Lowers Stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Archer Investment Corp reduced its stake in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,068 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,280 shares during the quarter. Archer Investment Corp’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $446,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI lifted its stake in W.P. Carey by 15.2% in the first quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 7,007 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 923 shares during the period. SWP Financial LLC purchased a new stake in W.P. Carey in the first quarter worth about $219,000. Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.2% during the first quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,949,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $123,026,000 after buying an additional 78,661 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 0.6% during the first quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 132,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,352,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.2% during the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 691,083 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,614,000 after buying an additional 27,766 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas set a $66.00 price objective on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Barclays set a $61.00 price objective on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of W.P. Carey from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $66.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.22.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

NYSE WPC traded up $0.36 on Friday, reaching $61.65. The stock had a trading volume of 55,146 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,154,523. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.23 and a current ratio of 0.23. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $66.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $62.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.43. The stock has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.08 and a beta of 0.78.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.20 by ($0.03). W.P. Carey had a return on equity of 5.02% and a net margin of 26.66%. The company had revenue of $407.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $412.99 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.14 EPS. W.P. Carey’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 185.57%.

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.