Quantbot Technologies LP Decreases Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Quantbot Technologies LP reduced its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 43.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,676 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 33,250 shares during the quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in Welltower were worth $4,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 3,257,213 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake 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 worth $2,731,842,000 after acquiring an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Welltower by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $814,678,000 after acquiring an additional 62,942 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in Welltower by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $414,229,000 after purchasing an additional 489,533 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wedbush upped their target price on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday. Four investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $112.38.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $129.15 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $78.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.44, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.38 and a twelve month high of $131.31. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $115.79 and a 200 day moving average of $103.81.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 330.86%.

Welltower Company Profile

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.