Whittier Trust Co. Acquires 625 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,331 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 625 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. One Degree Advisors Inc bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the third quarter worth about $243,000. Verde Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the third quarter. Verde Capital Management now owns 15,199 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,946,000 after purchasing an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in Welltower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Welltower by 9.6% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 478,207 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,225,000 after buying an additional 42,018 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial boosted its position in Welltower by 1,231.3% in the 3rd quarter. Friedenthal Financial now owns 6,337 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 5,861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.38.

Welltower Stock Up 1.3 %

Welltower stock opened at $131.77 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $80.80 and a twelve month high of $132.54. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $125.03 and a 200-day moving average of $110.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.79 billion, a PE ratio of 162.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.03%. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 330.86%.

Welltower 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.