Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stock Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 247 shares during the quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $339,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. National Pension Service purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Millstone Evans Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of W. P. Carey in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in W. P. Carey during the fourth quarter worth $58,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on WPC. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on W. P. Carey from $58.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, W. P. Carey presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

WPC opened at $62.67 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $60.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $58.41. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.91 and a 12-month high of $66.10. The firm has a market cap of $13.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.89 dividend. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.68%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 170.33%.

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.