Royal Bank of Canada Decreases Position in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada reduced its stock position in Welltower Inc. by 13.9%, now owning approximately $120.15 million worth of shares.
• Welltower Inc. reported EPS of $1.28 for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with revenue growth of 39.6% year-over-year.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend from $0.67 to $0.74, resulting in a dividend yield of 1.8%.

Royal Bank of Canada lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 13.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 784,212 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 126,293 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.12% of Welltower worth $120,149,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. SouthState Corp boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 704.8% during the 1st quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 169 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $167.78. 2,700,826 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,112,706. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.34 and a 12 month high of $171.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $153.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.19. The company has a market capitalization of $112.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.38%. The firm had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.05 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.060-5.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Welltower

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $175.00.

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.