D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 17.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 825,054 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 171,461 shares during the quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $86,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 3,257,213 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in 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 last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in 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 worth $814,678,000 after buying an additional 62,942 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 19.0% in 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 buying an additional 849,898 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position 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 valued at $414,229,000 after buying an additional 489,533 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. 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 report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Wedbush increased their target price on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $113.38.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $126.55 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.38 and a twelve month high of $131.31. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $75.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 156.23, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $118.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.44.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 330.86%.

About Welltower

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.