Truist Financial Corp Trims Stock Holdings in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Truist Financial Corp reduced its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 180,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 32,275 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp owned about 0.08% of W. P. Carey worth $11,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

W. P. Carey Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of WPC opened at $54.64 on Thursday. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 1 year low of $51.36 and a 1 year high of $73.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $58.88. The firm has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 0.86.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.52 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $410.38 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $413.04 million. W. P. Carey had a net margin of 40.68% and a return on equity of 7.78%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were paid a $0.865 dividend. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. W. P. Carey’s payout ratio is 104.85%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on W. P. Carey in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.36.

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.