QRG Capital Management Inc. Purchases 5,795 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 83,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 5,795 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $12,749,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth $3,943,892,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,388,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891,847 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 17,343.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728,088 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $150.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $148.95 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $142.42. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.13 and a 1-year high of $158.55. The stock has a market cap of $98.47 billion, a PE ratio of 96.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.01 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 154.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.25.

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.