American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 97,622 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 135.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 169,692 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 97,622 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of W.P. Carey worth $10,585,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. MTM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in W.P. Carey during the second quarter valued at $28,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in W.P. Carey in the second quarter worth about $40,000. REAP Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 56.4% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 660 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 238 shares during the period. Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of W.P. Carey during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $46,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

W.P. Carey Stock Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $66.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $14.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.47, a PEG ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 0.78. W.P. Carey Inc. has a 1 year low of $52.91 and a 1 year high of $69.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a current ratio of 0.25 and a quick ratio of 0.25.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.02. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 21.75% and a return on equity of 4.40%. The firm had revenue of $431.30 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $424.44 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.18 earnings per share. W.P. Carey’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. W.P. Carey has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.930-4.990 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.91 dividend. This represents a $3.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This is an increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 220.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WPC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W.P. Carey from $67.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Barclays increased their price target on W.P. Carey from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of W.P. Carey in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

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.