Welltower Inc. $WELL Stock Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 17.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,703 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Welltower were worth $10,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 51.8% in the 3rd quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 25,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,955,000 after buying an additional 8,824 shares during the period. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in Welltower during the third quarter worth $218,000. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 3.3% during the third quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 2,727 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Walter Public Investments Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower by 32.2% during the third quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 34,222 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,879,000 after acquiring an additional 8,327 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 241.3% in the third quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $171,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. Freedom Broker upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $215.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $226.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on shares of Welltower from $260.00 to $258.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $263.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $242.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,210,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,261,800. This represents a 20.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Purchased indirectly through two trusts. The transaction was executed in multiple trades at prices ranging from $241.59 to $242.59. The reported $242.06 price is the weighted-average purchase price. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Welltower News

Here’s some of the latest news about WELL:

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target to $289 from $269 and maintained a Buy rating, implying about 16.9% upside from the cited share price. UBS price target article
• Positive Sentiment: RBC raised its target to $266 from $260 and maintained an Outperform rating. RBC price target article
• Neutral Sentiment: A dividend analysis was published, but the provided headline does not give details or indicate a change to Welltower’s dividend outlook. Welltower dividend analysis

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $247.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $181.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 106.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 3.16. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.37 and its 200-day simple moving average is $220.56. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $181.47 and a 12 month high of $255.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.64 by $0.03. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 12.08%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 38.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.50 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 147.19%.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc. is a real estate investment trust focused on properties and services that support health care and aging. Its portfolio includes senior housing communities, outpatient medical facilities and post-acute care properties. The company works with senior housing operators, health care providers and other partners to own, lease and manage properties. Its operations span the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Founded in 1970 as Health Care REIT, the company adopted the Welltower name in 2015.