Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Sells 445 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management lowered its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 445 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management’s holdings in Welltower were worth $294,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WELL. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 848 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Welltower in the second quarter worth $1,389,000. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 4.3% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 85,691 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,933,000 after acquiring an additional 3,517 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at $8,794,000. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Welltower by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 117,885 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,093,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James increased their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Five 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $137.08 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $130.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $126.05. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.40 and a 52 week high of $140.75. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.19, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

About Welltower

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.