Welltower Inc. $WELL Shares Bought by New Mexico Educational Retirement Board

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 13.0% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 34,748 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,000 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Welltower were worth $7,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Leonteq Securities AG grew its stake in Welltower by 92.3% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 124.6% during the 1st quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Swiss RE Ltd. acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Kilter Group LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in Welltower during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $239.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,197,350.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,986,750. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, May 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on Welltower from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $246.11.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $237.51 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $235.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $217.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 3.16. The company has a market cap of $171.18 billion, a PE ratio of 108.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.76. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $163.75 and a 12 month high of $255.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.05). Welltower had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.96%.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.