Kentucky Retirement Systems Buys 2,319 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems raised its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 5.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,086 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,319 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems' holdings in Welltower were worth $6,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Franchise Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the first quarter worth $32,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 57.2% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 294 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on WELL. Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho increased 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. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $163.25.

Welltower Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of WELL stock traded down $1.48 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $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 current ratio of 4.23, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.94. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $149.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $142.96. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $100.13 and a one year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 3.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 154.02%.

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.