Patton Fund Management Inc. Purchases New Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Patton Fund Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 51,402 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $6,478,000. Welltower accounts for about 1.3% of Patton Fund Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. BSW Wealth Partners lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 18.9% in the 4th quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,893 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 460 shares during the period. Perigon Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 48.6% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,549 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Nilsine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 3,103 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $391,000 after purchasing an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Welltower by 78.7% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 396,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $50,005,000 after purchasing an additional 174,771 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $964,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James lifted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.96.

Welltower Stock Performance

Welltower stock opened at $137.28 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.40 and a fifty-two week high of $140.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $130.13 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.99. The company has a market capitalization of $85.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.32, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.