Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC trimmed its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 402,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 164,009 shares during the quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $36,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,615,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,673 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 22.9% in 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 during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,141,000 after buying an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,627,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $542,944,000 after buying an additional 48,051 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL traded down $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $95.81. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,522,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,562,263. The firm has a market cap of $57.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.07. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.47 and a 1-year high of $98.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $92.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.83.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The business’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 301.23%.

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.