Bessemer Group Inc. Raises Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 118.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 402 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $40,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. DF Dent & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in W. P. Carey by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. DF Dent & Co. Inc. now owns 5,464 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 44,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,418,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in W. P. Carey by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group boosted its stake in W. P. Carey by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 11,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 73.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on WPC shares. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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. Scotiabank raised their price objective on W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.75.

W. P. Carey Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WPC opened at $62.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. W. P. Carey Inc. has a one year low of $52.91 and a one year high of $66.10. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $58.10. The company has a market capitalization of $13.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.81.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.89 per share. This is an increase from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.73%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.