Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,046 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 222 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Welltower by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,748,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,079 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $309,917,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of WELL opened at $129.75 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.07. The company has a market capitalization of $79.04 billion, a PE ratio of 160.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $129.87.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.90 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 330.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.71.

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.