Welltower Inc. $WELL Holdings Decreased by Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.0% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 117,567 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 10,158 shares during the quarter. Welltower makes up 1.3% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $27,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. RHL Group LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 146.7% during the 3rd quarter. RHL Group LLC now owns 111 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Solstein Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Fulcrum Asset Management LLP bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the third quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 42.6% in the second quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 164 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Price Performance

Welltower stock opened at $247.42 on Wednesday. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.47 and a 52 week high of $255.20. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $234.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $220.25. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market cap of $181.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 107.11, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.79.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.03. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 12.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 38.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $242.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,210,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,261,800. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through 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 Ratings Changes

WELL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective (down from $260.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $215.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on shares of Welltower from $260.00 to $258.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.14.

Welltower Company Profile

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.