Boothbay Fund Management LLC Reduces Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Boothbay Fund Management LLC decreased its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 60.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,842 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,398 shares during the quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,872 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $215,659,000 after buying an additional 380,888 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $68,666,000 after acquiring an additional 128,090 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $244,114,000 after acquiring an additional 285,015 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $157.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $150.48. 2,367,811 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,878,669. The firm's fifty day moving average is $148.06 and its 200-day moving average is $139.14. The stock has a market cap of $98.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.46, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $95.86 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Welltower's payout ratio is 154.02%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL, a real estate investment trust ("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 infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.