Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $11.73 Million Position in W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of W. P. Carey Inc. (NYSE:WPC) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 215,332 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,606 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in W. P. Carey were worth $11,731,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WPC. Harbour Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 5.9% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,626 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 2.2% during the third quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 9,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 3.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of W. P. Carey by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Financial Group lifted its holdings in W. P. Carey by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Cooper Financial Group now owns 11,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $649,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 73.73% of the company’s stock.

W. P. Carey Trading Up 2.5 %

WPC opened at $64.31 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $56.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $14.07 billion, a PE ratio of 30.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.97. W. P. Carey Inc. has a twelve month low of $52.91 and a twelve month high of $64.63.

W. P. Carey Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.88 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. This is a positive change from W. P. Carey’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.88. This represents a $3.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.47%. W. P. Carey’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 168.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WPC has been the topic of several analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $61.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of W. P. Carey from $59.00 to $56.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of W. P. Carey from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $67.00 in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank cut 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 report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of W. P. Carey in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.38.

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.