Blue Trust Inc. Acquires 3,672 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 182.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,672 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,333,716,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 26.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after acquiring an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,678,000 after acquiring an additional 62,942 shares during the period. Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,229,000 after purchasing an additional 489,533 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.38.

Welltower Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE WELL opened at $130.06 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $124.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $109.98. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $80.80 and a one year high of $132.54. The company has a market capitalization of $77.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.07.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Welltower’s payout ratio is 330.86%.

Welltower Company 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.