Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Evanson Asset Management LLC

Evanson Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 47.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,988 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,792 shares during the quarter. Evanson Asset Management LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $305,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. lifted its stake in Welltower by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,872 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 30.7% during 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 purchasing an additional 128,090 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $244,114,000 after buying an additional 285,015 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $367,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its position in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 1,891,847 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $163.25.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $151.70. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,336,486 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,919,173. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $149.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.89. The company has a current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.20 billion, a PE ratio of 87.18, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.13 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Welltower's payout ratio is 154.02%.

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.