Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 11,373 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lowered its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 3.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 324,452 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 11,373 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB owned approximately 0.05% of Welltower worth $49,709,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth about $3,943,892,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 53.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,062,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939,229 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% in 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 purchasing an additional 1,891,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 17,343.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $266,287,000 after purchasing an additional 1,728,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.25.

Welltower Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE WELL traded down $0.87 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $150.04. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,002,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,926,472. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.13 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.18, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $142.04.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The firm's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.79%. Welltower's 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.