5,901 Shares in Welltower Inc. $WELL Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower Inc., purchasing 5,901 shares valued at approximately $904,000.
• Several institutional investors have significantly increased their holdings in Welltower, with SouthState Corp boosting its stake by 704.8%.
• Welltower reported earnings of $1.28 per share for the last quarter, surpassing expectations and indicating a 39.6% revenue increase compared to the previous year.

AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 5,901 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $904,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SouthState Corp increased its position in Welltower by 704.8% during the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 169 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.00.

Welltower Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of WELL traded down $0.35 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $167.40. The company had a trading volume of 2,114,915 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,918,879. The company has a current ratio of 4.19, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The company has a market capitalization of $111.96 billion, a PE ratio of 94.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $119.93 and a one year high of $171.09. The company's fifty day moving average price is $160.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $152.83.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.38% and a net margin of 12.18%.The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.060-5.14 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 167.23%.

Welltower Profile

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.