National Pension Service Acquires 220,201 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,385,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 220,201 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Welltower were worth $177,359,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,648,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 9,617 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,231,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $470,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the period. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 775 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $99,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.38.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $134.31 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $127.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $113.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $83.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 88.36, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.38 and a 52 week high of $139.80.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued 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 2.00%. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 176.32%.

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.