Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Grows Stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 74.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 872,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 372,433 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $55,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new position in W.P. Carey in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in W.P. Carey by 118.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at about $44,000. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of W.P. Carey during the fourth quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

WPC opened at $62.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $13.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.97 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $59.67. W.P. Carey Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $52.91 and a fifty-two week high of $66.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) 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 analyst estimates of $412.99 million. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 26.66% and a return on equity of 5.02%. The business’s revenue was up 5.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side 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 will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.90 dividend. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.72%. This is a positive change from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.89. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 183.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WPC. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on 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. Barclays set a $61.00 price target on shares of W.P. Carey and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $63.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W.P. Carey currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.40.

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.