Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $1.92 Million Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. reduced its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 6.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 29,656 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,100 shares during the quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $1,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 316.5% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group bought a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter valued at about $46,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WPC. Scotiabank cut their price objective 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. Raymond James cut W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Barclays began coverage on W. P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.36.

W. P. Carey Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $55.03 on Friday. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $51.36 and a 12-month high of $74.66. The stock has a market cap of $12.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business’s 50 day moving average is $56.04 and its 200-day moving average is $58.79.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 40.68%. The company had revenue of $410.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $413.04 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.29 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a dividend of $0.865 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.29%. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.85%.

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.