Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. Trims Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. reduced its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,390 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 163 shares during the period. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $306,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,673 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 25.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after buying an additional 1,581,084 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,141,000 after buying an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its position in shares of Welltower by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,627,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $542,944,000 after buying an additional 48,051 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL stock opened at $93.70 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization 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 twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $94.63. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.28. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 381.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. KeyCorp upped their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

Welltower Company 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.