Welltower Inc. $WELL Shares Acquired by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Key Points

• Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its Welltower stake by 10% in the fourth quarter, adding 5,344 shares to bring its total to 58,697 shares worth about $10.9 million.
• Other institutional investors also boosted positions, and 94.8% of Welltower stock is owned by institutions and hedge funds, highlighting strong professional ownership interest.
• Analysts remain upbeat: several raised price targets, and Welltower reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings with EPS of $1.02 and revenue of $3.35 billion, while also announcing a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share.

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 58,697 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 5,344 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $10,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 78,635 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $14,595,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 27.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,717 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 799 shares during the period. Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 14,228 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,641,000 after buying an additional 2,802 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 15,723 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,918,000 after buying an additional 3,427 shares during the period. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al now owns 389,160 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $72,232,000 after buying an additional 54,000 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WELL. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $204.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $200.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $218.00 to $228.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $216.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $210.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $229.67.

Welltower Trading Up 1.2%

Welltower stock opened at $220.09 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.31, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $206.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $198.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.96, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.83. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.65 and a 52-week high of $221.68.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.96% and a return on equity of 3.45%. Welltower's revenue was up 38.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.210-6.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 6.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 13th. Welltower's payout ratio is presently 146.53%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower's assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company's property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.

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