State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Buys 8,707 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D raised its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 457,596 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,707 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.07% of Welltower worth $58,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Welltower by 26.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $309,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,333,716,000 after acquiring an additional 3,257,213 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at about $254,977,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 target price (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $116.68.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL traded up $1.28 on Friday, reaching $138.20. The company had a trading volume of 2,485,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,305,937. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.38 and a 52-week high of $140.19. The company has a market cap of $86.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.08.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.31 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 176.32%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a real estate investment trust (“REIT”) and S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, is driving the transformation of health care infrastructure. Welltower invests with leading seniors housing operators, post-acute providers and health systems to fund the real estate infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people’s wellness and overall health care experience.