Drake & Associates LLC Buys 2,633 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Drake & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 24.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,216 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,633 shares during the quarter. Welltower comprises about 0.6% of Drake & Associates LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Drake & Associates LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $2,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower by 120.3% during 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. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in Welltower by 30.7% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,666,000 after purchasing an additional 128,090 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. now owns 27,893 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 61.4% in the first quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 6,756 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,035,000 after acquiring an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891,847 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $168.18.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL traded up $0.56 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $152.32. 2,388,999 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,913,726. The company has a market cap of $99.61 billion, a PE ratio of 87.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $151.17 and a 200 day moving average of $144.93. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $102.92 and a 52-week high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 4.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.41% and a net margin of 12.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.01 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.76%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 154.02%.

Insider Activity

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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.