Welltower Inc. $WELL Stock Position Increased by Ritholtz Wealth Management

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 51.8% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,824 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in Welltower were worth $5,955,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bahl & Gaynor LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 211.6% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor LLC now owns 316,619 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,898,000 after purchasing an additional 214,997 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 13.0% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 238,162 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,056,000 after buying an additional 27,345 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Welltower by 0.7% during 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 period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 916,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $207,986,000 after buying an additional 79,088 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Welltower by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,014,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $398,227,000 after buying an additional 181,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $266.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $226.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $269.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on Welltower from $259.00 to $246.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $263.10.

Welltower Stock Down 1.0%

WELL opened at $244.75 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $179.55 billion, a PE ratio of 39.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $234.49 and its 200-day moving average is $220.87. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $181.47 and a one year high of $255.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 38.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 6.50 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 147.19%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $242.06 per share, with a total value of $1,210,300.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 30,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,261,800. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.