Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 17,979 Shares of Welltower Inc. $WELL

Key Points

• Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its Welltower stake by 251.3% in the first quarter, buying 17,979 additional shares and bringing its total to 25,134 shares worth about $4.97 million.
• Welltower continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with major holders like Vanguard, Capital International, State Street, and Norges Bank also increasing or adding positions; institutional investors now own 94.8% of the stock.
• The REIT reported strong first-quarter results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and analysts remain broadly positive with a Moderate Buy rating and an average price target of $234.72, even after some target-price adjustments.

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 251.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,134 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 17,979 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Welltower were worth $4,969,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Welltower by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,421,471 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $17,154,349,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643,088 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in Welltower by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 47,431,769 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,805,411,000 after buying an additional 915,514 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Welltower by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 41,760,328 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $7,751,134,000 after acquiring an additional 506,374 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,466,264,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,403,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,787,049,000 after acquiring an additional 1,024,668 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WELL. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Welltower from $248.00 to $232.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $245.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $245.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho set a $239.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $249.00 to $271.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $234.72.

Welltower Trading Up 0.8%

WELL stock opened at $243.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.96 and a twelve month high of $246.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 120.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.77. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $218.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $206.74.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 3.45%. The business's revenue was up 38.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.210-6.350 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. Welltower's payout ratio is 146.53%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower's assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company's property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.

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