State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Sells 11,041 Shares of Welltower Inc. $WELL

Key Points

• The State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D holds approximately $69.45 million in Welltower Inc. after reducing its position by 2.4% in the first quarter, now owning 453,296 shares.
• Welltower has reported a 39.6% increase in year-over-year quarterly revenue, reaching $2.55 billion, along with a earnings per share of $1.28, surpassing analysts' expectations.
• The company recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.67 to $0.74 per share, with an upcoming payment scheduled for August 21st.

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lowered its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 453,296 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 11,041 shares during the quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D owned approximately 0.07% of Welltower worth $69,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in Welltower by 3.9% in the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 258,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $39,536,000 after acquiring an additional 9,678 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 6.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 61.4% in the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 8.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Focused Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the first quarter valued at $313,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $169.82.

Welltower Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WELL traded up $1.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $162.90. The stock had a trading volume of 2,490,254 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,500,482. The company has a market capitalization of $108.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 92.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.93. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $157.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $151.62. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $115.18 and a 52 week high of $171.09. 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 results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during 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 firm's revenue was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of the 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,029,200. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.21% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.