Legal & General Group Plc Takes $1.60 Billion Position in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 7,046,531 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,599,351,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 31.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 14,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,266,000 after purchasing an additional 3,564 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 7.1% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,910 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $294,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 7.3% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,871 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,671,000 after purchasing an additional 735 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 27.0% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 12,435 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,912,000 after buying an additional 2,641 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $240.07 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $233.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.40. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.75 and a 52-week high of $255.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a current ratio of 3.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $173.03 billion, a PE ratio of 110.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.76.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.05). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 12.15%.The company had revenue of $3.54 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.44 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 155.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Welltower from $215.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Welltower from $248.00 to $232.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Welltower from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $237.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.11.

About Welltower

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.