8,822 Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Bought by Scotia Capital Inc.

Scotia Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 8,822 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,352,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Geller Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Geller Advisors LLC now owns 1,911 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC raised its position in Welltower by 1.2% in the first quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 5,744 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $880,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 4.3% in the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,783 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $273,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 2.0% in the first quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,644 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $558,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Welltower by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Premier Path Wealth Partners LLC now owns 4,427 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $678,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $169.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,200. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $169.90. The company had a trading volume of 2,591,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,376,813. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $150.17. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $114.37 and a 52 week high of $171.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $113.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.99, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.38%. Welltower's revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This is a boost from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 151.41%.

Welltower 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.