2,304 Welltower Inc. $WELL Shares Bought by Calamos Advisors LLC

Calamos Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 113,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,304 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $26,221,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 5.5% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 78,049,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $17,714,830,000 after purchasing an additional 4,045,458 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,138,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,564,246,000 after buying an additional 578,033 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,425,089,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Welltower by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,814,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,227,642,000 after buying an additional 207,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Welltower by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,345,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,649,844,000 after buying an additional 57,938 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $242.06 per share, with a total value of $1,210,300.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,261,800. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Purchased indirectly through two trusts. The transaction was executed in multiple trades at prices ranging from $241.59 to $242.59. The reported $242.06 price is the weighted-average purchase price. Company insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $238.00 to $272.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $215.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price objective on shares of Welltower from $260.00 to $258.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $259.81.

Welltower Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE WELL traded down $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $245.32. The stock had a trading volume of 2,459,221 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,869,020. The firm has a market cap of $179.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.79. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $181.47 and a twelve month high of $255.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $233.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $219.61.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.03. Welltower had a net margin of 12.08% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 6.51 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 147.19%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc is a real estate investment trust focused on properties and services that support health care and aging. Its portfolio includes senior housing communities, outpatient medical facilities and post-acute care properties.

The company works with senior housing operators, health care providers and other partners to own, lease and manage properties. Its operations span the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1970 as Health Care REIT, the company adopted the Welltower name in 2015.