Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,122 Shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 501,566 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,122 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of W. P. Carey worth $27,325,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.9% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $284,426,000 after purchasing an additional 127,477 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 4.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,598,618 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $161,894,000 after acquiring an additional 103,147 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 660.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,054,080 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $127,969,000 after acquiring an additional 1,784,131 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 21.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,514,049 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $94,325,000 after acquiring an additional 264,230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equity Investment Corp boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 0.7% in the third quarter. Equity Investment Corp now owns 1,481,627 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $92,305,000 after acquiring an additional 9,610 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $61.68 on Friday. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12 month low of $52.91 and a 12 month high of $64.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.69. The firm has a market cap of $13.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.51, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.97.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.88 per share. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.71%. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 168.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on WPC. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.38.

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.