Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Wedbush Securities Inc.

Wedbush Securities Inc. trimmed its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,269 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 147 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $445,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,333,716,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings 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 worth $2,731,842,000 after buying an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,453,039,000. Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $414,229,000 after acquiring an additional 489,533 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WELL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush upped their target price on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.58.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $129.75 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $79.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $115.29 and its 200-day moving average is $103.39. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.38 and a 12 month high of $129.87.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect 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. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 330.86%.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.