Welltower Inc. $WELL Holdings Increased by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 100,938 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,459 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $23,240,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC raised its position in Welltower by 3.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC now owns 1,318 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares in the last quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Heritage Family Offices LLP now owns 997 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the period. Family Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Family Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,678 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. Finally, Natural Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Natural Investments LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $256.00 target price (down from $260.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $260.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Welltower from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Finally, 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 research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.10.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 5,000 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,261,800. The trade was a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $244.62 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $179.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 105.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.79. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $181.47 and a 52 week high of $255.20. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $234.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $221.17.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.64 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.08% and a return on equity of 3.61%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.50 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

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

Welltower 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.