Benjamin Edwards Inc. Raises Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 178.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,344 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,521,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. UBS Group AG raised its position in shares of Welltower by 147.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,072,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $96,688,000 after buying an additional 639,355 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 33,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,993,000 after buying an additional 1,025 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 84.7% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 5,392 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 2,473 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $162,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of Welltower by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 47,833 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,313,000 after buying an additional 8,431 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $125.40 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $78.38 and a one year high of $131.31. 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 50-day simple moving average of $117.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 154.81, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.90 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 330.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on WELL shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $112.38.

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.