1,650 Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Acquired by Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 1,650 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in Welltower by 1.3% in the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,477,382 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $231,487,000 after purchasing an additional 30,688 shares during the period. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the first quarter worth approximately $383,000. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lifted its holdings in Welltower by 16.2% in the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 14,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,391,000 after buying an additional 2,079 shares during the period. Retirement Guys Formula LLC acquired a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $475,000. Finally, SpiderRock Advisors LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $404,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on WELL shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.38.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $137.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 4.07 and a quick ratio of 4.07. The company has a market capitalization of $82.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 169.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $126.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.71. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $80.80 and a 1 year high of $137.73.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 330.86%.

Welltower Profile

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.