Trek Financial LLC Acquires New Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Trek Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 19,590 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $3,001,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,666,000 after buying an additional 128,090 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,780 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its position 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 worth $1,035,000 after buying an additional 2,571 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,183,000 after buying an additional 1,891,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 10,423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $168.18.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL stock traded down $0.76 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $153.48. The company had a trading volume of 145,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,910,414. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $102.92 and a 12 month high of $158.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.26, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.92. The firm's fifty day moving average is $151.16 and its 200 day moving average is $144.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.41% and a net margin of 12.65%. Welltower's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 154.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,029,200. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.

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