Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Takes Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 479.6% in the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 117.8% in the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $0.51 on Friday, reaching $91.32. The stock had a trading volume of 1,901,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,154,325. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $91.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.22. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.47 and a fifty-two week high of $94.63. The stock has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 142.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.08.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 381.25%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.