Employees Retirement System of Texas Buys 21,000 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 320,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Welltower were worth $40,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $161.83.

Welltower Stock Performance

Welltower stock traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $154.36. 7,389,934 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,958,847. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $99.95 and a 12 month high of $158.55. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $147.78 and a 200 day moving average of $141.11. The firm has a market cap of $100.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.95, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Welltower's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Welltower's payout ratio is presently 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.