Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Purchased by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 340,651 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,364 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Welltower were worth $31,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,748,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,079 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Welltower by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,132,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,085,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,150 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,173,337,000 after purchasing an additional 87,106 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,141,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,514,903.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on WELL shares. StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas began coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $99.50.

Welltower Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of WELL traded down $0.62 on Wednesday, hitting $105.35. 1,204,655 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,687,226. The company has a quick ratio of 3.83, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 130.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.18. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $100.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.24. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.90 and a 1 year high of $106.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 301.23%.

Welltower 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.