New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Sells 1,700 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board decreased its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 27,548 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Asset Planning Inc bought a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,595,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 18,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,639 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 1,777 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $224,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 1,143,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $142,958,000 after acquiring an additional 36,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 3,198 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.58.

Welltower Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE:WELL opened at $150.03 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.70, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $128.83. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.87 and a 12 month high of $151.96.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. Analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.