Looking at the shareholders of WP Carey Inc. (NYSE: WPC) can tell us which group is the strongest. Institutions usually hold shares in larger companies, and we expect insiders to hold a larger proportion of smaller companies. Companies that have been privatized tend to have lower insider ownership.

The market value of WP Carey is US$14b, which is quite large. We hope to see institutional investors on the register. Companies of this size are generally well-known to retail investors. Our analysis of company ownership below shows that institutions own shares in the company. Let's delve into each type of owner to learn more about WP Carey.

Check out our latest analysis for WP Carey

Institutional investors usually compare their own returns with the returns of a widely watched index. Therefore, they usually consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

We can see that WP Carey does have institutional investors; they hold a large portion of the company's stock. This can show that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best not to rely on the so-called verification provided by institutional investors. They too, sometimes get it wrong. When multiple institutions own a stock, they always have the risk of "crowded trading". When problems arise in such transactions, multiple parties may race to sell stocks quickly. For companies with no history of growth, this risk is even higher. You can see WP Carey's historical earnings and income below, but remember that there is always more to the story.

Institutional investors own more than 50% of the company's shares, so together they may have a strong impact on the board of directors' decision-making. Hedge funds do not hold many shares in WP Carey. Our data shows that Vanguard Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 14% of the outstanding shares. BlackRock, Inc. and State Street Global Advisors, Inc. account for 7.7% and 3.9% of the issued shares, respectively, and are the second and third largest shareholders.

A more in-depth look at our ownership data shows that the top 25 shareholders collectively hold less than half of the register, which indicates that a large number of minority shareholders do not have a single shareholder majority.

Research institution ownership is a good way to measure and filter the expected performance of stocks. The same can be achieved by studying the analyst's emotions. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you can easily view the forecast growth.

The definition of people within a company may be subjective and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Our data reflects individual insiders, including at least board members. The management finally responded to the board of directors. However, it is not uncommon for managers to serve on executive boards, especially if they are founders or CEOs.

Most people believe that insider ownership is positive because it can show that the board is aligned with other shareholders. However, in some cases, too much power is concentrated in this group.

Our latest data shows that insiders own part of WP Carey Inc.'s shares. Insiders own shares worth US$152 million (at current prices). Most people would say that this shows that the interests of shareholders and the board of directors are aligned. Nonetheless, it may be worth checking whether these insiders have been selling.

With 41% ownership, the public has a certain degree of influence on WP Carey. Although this group may not be able to call the shots, it will definitely have a real impact on the way the company operates.

I find it very interesting to see who owns a company. But to truly gain insight, we also need to consider other information. Take risk as an example-WP Carey has 2 warning signs (and 1 should not be ignored) that we think you should know.

If you want to know analysts’ forecasts for future growth, please don’t miss this free report on analysts’ forecasts.

Note: The figures in this article are calculated using data from the past twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last day of the month of the financial statement date. This may be inconsistent with the annual report figures for the whole year.

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