Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Trims Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lessened its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,277 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,281 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey by 316.5% during the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 783 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 595 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the third quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Provence Wealth Management Group purchased a new position in shares of W. P. Carey during the third quarter worth about $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of W. P. Carey stock opened at $56.43 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $12.35 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.86. The business has a 50 day moving average of $56.05 and a 200 day moving average of $58.82. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $51.36 and a 52 week high of $74.66.

W. P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.66 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 the consensus estimate of $413.04 million. W. P. Carey had a return on equity of 7.78% and a net margin of 40.68%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that W. P. Carey Inc. will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 28th were issued a $0.865 dividend. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. This represents a $3.46 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.13%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is 104.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WPC. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on W. P. Carey from $66.00 to $61.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Raymond James lowered W. P. Carey from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank cut their target price on W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price 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. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock 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.