Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Takes Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 17,926 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,746,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,872 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $68,666,000 after buying an additional 128,090 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $244,114,000 after buying an additional 285,015 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $367,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 1,891,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WELL. Mizuho lifted their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.25.

Welltower Stock Down 1.0%

WELL opened at $151.70 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average is $149.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $142.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.23. The company has a market cap of $99.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.18, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $100.13 and a one year high of $158.55.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued 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 1.77%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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