First Trust Advisors LP Buys 11,409 Shares of W.P. Carey Inc. $WPC

First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in W.P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 650,197 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 11,409 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in W.P. Carey were worth $44,187,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in W.P. Carey by 1.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,329,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $844,065,000 after buying an additional 119,817 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in W.P. Carey by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,795,604 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $307,913,000 after acquiring an additional 110,306 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,213,013 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,150,000 after acquiring an additional 441,526 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of W.P. Carey by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,904,767 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $251,311,000 after acquiring an additional 12,305 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of W.P. Carey by 4.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,348,132 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $227,539,000 after purchasing an additional 155,857 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other W.P. Carey news, CAO Brian H. Zander sold 433 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.00, for a total value of $32,042.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 13,882 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,027,268. This represents a 3.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.98% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WPC. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of W.P. Carey from $79.00 to $76.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wolfe Research upgraded W.P. Carey from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $85.00 price target for the company in a report on Monday, June 8th. Barclays boosted their price target on W.P. Carey from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded W.P. Carey from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group set a $76.00 price objective on W.P. Carey in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.00.

W.P. Carey Price Performance

NYSE:WPC opened at $76.25 on Tuesday. W.P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $63.08 and a one year high of $77.12. The company has a market cap of $16.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $73.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.35 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

W.P. Carey (NYSE:WPC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.69. The company had revenue of $454.51 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $430.64 million. W.P. Carey had a net margin of 29.35% and a return on equity of 6.29%. The company’s revenue was up 11.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that W.P. Carey Inc. will post 5.06 earnings per share for the current year.

W.P. Carey Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a $0.94 dividend. This is an increase from W.P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $3.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.9%. W.P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 160.68%.

About W.P. Carey

W. P. Carey Inc is a diversified net-lease real estate investment trust specializing in single-tenant commercial properties. The company structures sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions to provide long-term net lease financing across a variety of asset classes, including industrial facilities, office buildings, retail centers and self-storage facilities. By employing triple net leases, W. P. Carey transfers property operating expenses, taxes and maintenance responsibility to tenants, creating a stable, predictable income stream for investors.

Founded in 1973 by William Polk Carey, the firm has expanded organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions.