Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Raises Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 12.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,532 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 1,519 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,073,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 6.8% during the first quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. now owns 27,893 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,780 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 2,571 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment grew its stake in Welltower by 23,204.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891,847 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 8.6% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 131,503 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $20,147,000 after purchasing an additional 10,423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $313,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on WELL. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $169.82.

Welltower Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE WELL traded up $1.25 during trading on Friday, hitting $166.32. The stock had a trading volume of 2,413,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,249. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 4.19 and a quick ratio of 4.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $154.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.77. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.74 and a 12 month high of $168.84. The company has a market capitalization of $108.77 billion, a PE ratio of 93.97, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.06. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.38% and a net margin of 12.18%. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. Welltower's revenue was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 167.23%.

Insider Transactions at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,029,200. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.