Busey Bank Trims Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Busey Bank lowered its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 10.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,128 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 907 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Welltower were worth $847,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Welltower by 26.4% in 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,748,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,079 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at about $309,917,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% in 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.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $117.02. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 541,447 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,666,498. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $118.63. The company has a current ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $69.97 billion, a PE ratio of 143.62, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $108.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.57.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 330.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on WELL. Wedbush upped their price objective on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $108.88.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total transaction of $187,038.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,514,903.89. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.