New York State Common Retirement Fund Reduces Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 414,754 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 25,622 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.07% of Welltower worth $37,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 977,362 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $88,129,000 after purchasing an additional 52,654 shares during the last quarter. Rainey & Randall Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Rainey & Randall Investment Management Inc. now owns 30,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,750,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Trust Company N.A purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $291,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 214,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $19,322,000 after purchasing an additional 19,459 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,987 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,171,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on WELL. Mizuho raised their price objective on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $93.70 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $55.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.41, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $72.47 and a 52 week high of $94.63. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $92.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.28.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 381.26%.

Welltower Profile

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.