Welltower Inc. $WELL Holdings Lifted by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 256,975 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 11,121 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $39,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in Welltower by 704.8% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 169 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower during the first quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Welltower in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $151.46 per share, with a total value of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Welltower from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $175.00.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL stock traded down $0.73 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $168.12. 2,031,974 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,888,683. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $122.34 and a 1-year high of $171.09. The firm has a market cap of $112.44 billion, a PE ratio of 94.98, a P/E/G ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.93. The company's fifty day moving average price is $162.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $154.09. The company has a quick ratio of 4.19, a current ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

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

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 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.