Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires New Stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Machina Capital S.A.S. acquired a new stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in W. P. Carey by 91.7% during the 4th quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 6,373 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $347,000 after acquiring an additional 3,049 shares during the period. Equity Investment Corp lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 0.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 31,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,980,000 after acquiring an additional 2,075 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in W. P. Carey by 103.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 806,082 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,219,000 after acquiring an additional 409,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in W. P. Carey in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,267,000. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $60.00 to $59.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of W. P. Carey from $62.00 to $60.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.88.

W. P. Carey Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WPC opened at $64.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $14.17 billion, a PE ratio of 30.98, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average is $57.75 and its 200 day moving average is $58.20. W. P. Carey Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.91 and a 52 week high of $65.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a $0.88 dividend. This represents a $3.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a boost from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 168.42%.

W. P. Carey 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.