Franklin Resources Inc. Grows Stock Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 20.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 165,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 28,022 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of W. P. Carey worth $9,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 247.3% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $684,000 after purchasing an additional 8,843 shares during the last quarter. Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.7% during the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,481,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $92,305,000 after buying an additional 9,610 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 41.9% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 156,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,742,000 after acquiring an additional 46,181 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 22,819 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,319,000 after acquiring an additional 9,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stoneridge Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,692,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Monday, December 16th. 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. Barclays reiterated an “underweight” rating and set a $59.00 price target (up from $56.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $63.00 target price (up from $62.00) on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.25.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $54.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $56.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $57.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.96. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.09 and a 12 month high of $67.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 6.45% and a net margin of 35.12%. The firm had revenue of $394.78 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $377.43 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.32 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 138.58%.

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.