Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Bought by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. boosted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 5.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 94,863 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 4,776 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $14,534,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $3,943,892,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Welltower by 53.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,062,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891,847 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 17,343.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $266,287,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,088 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on WELL. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Wedbush restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $168.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Welltower Stock Up 1.6%

WELL stock opened at $155.10 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $103.36 and a twelve month high of $158.55. 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 company has a market capitalization of $101.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.14, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $151.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $145.37.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 3.41%. The firm's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is 154.02%.

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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