Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Has $561,000 Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 33.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $561,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WELL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Welltower by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $309,917,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Welltower news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value of $187,038.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.04.

Welltower Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of WELL traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $112.76. 2,827,096 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,629,856. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $115.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 4.07 and a quick ratio of 3.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $105.32 and a 200-day moving average of $97.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 139.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

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.