Cerity Partners LLC Sells 27,211 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Cerity Partners LLC cut its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 52.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 24,911 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 27,211 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 93.1% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 231 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 1,510.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 483 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 453 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its stake in W. P. Carey by 175.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 560 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new stake in W. P. Carey during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Maia Wealth LLC bought a new position in W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WPC has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $63.00 price objective (up previously from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.88.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of WPC stock opened at $55.81 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.09 and a 12 month high of $67.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.15.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.62). W. P. Carey had a net margin of 35.12% and a return on equity of 6.45%. The firm had revenue of $394.78 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $377.43 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.875 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.87. This represents a $3.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 137.80%.

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.