National Pension Service Increases Stock Position in Welltower Inc. $WELL

National Pension Service boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.2% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,015,067 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 62,043 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Welltower were worth $457,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WELL. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 23,475.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 244,081,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $55,399,177,000 after acquiring an additional 243,046,172 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $5,466,264,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,425,089,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in Welltower by 955.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 9,513,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,765,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,612,016 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,599,351,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Down 0.5%

WELL stock opened at $236.15 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.75 and a fifty-two week high of $255.20. The company has a market capitalization of $170.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.76. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $237.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $219.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on WELL. Barclays increased their price objective on Welltower from $254.00 to $259.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, August 31st. UBS Group upped their target price on Welltower from $249.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $244.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Welltower from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $251.06.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $239.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,197,350.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,986,750. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns, operates and finances healthcare-related real estate. The company focuses on properties that support healthcare delivery and services, including senior housing communities, outpatient medical facilities and post-acute care properties.

Welltower partners with healthcare providers, senior housing operators and other service providers to develop and manage facilities designed to serve aging populations and patients requiring ongoing or specialized care.