Pacer Advisors Inc. Sells 13,290 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in Welltower Inc. by 21.5%, ending the first quarter with holdings worth $7.43 million.
• Several analysts have recently shifted their ratings on Welltower, with Wall Street Zen lowering its rating to "sell" and Wells Fargo raising the price target to $175.
• Welltower recently announced a $0.67 quarterly dividend, reflecting a 1.66% dividend yield and a payout ratio of 154.02%.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 21.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 48,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 13,290 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $7,428,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Franchise Capital Ltd bought a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, ZynergyRetirementPlanningLLC purchased a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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, Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $169.82.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL stock traded up $0.22 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $166.60. The company's stock had a trading volume of 638,875 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,975,846. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $154.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.50. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.74 and a 12 month high of $168.84. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.38% and a net margin of 12.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 12th. 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 dividend yield of 1.78%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is 154.02%.

Welltower Company Profile

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.