Welltower Inc. $WELL Shares Bought by Fifth Third Bancorp

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its ownership in Welltower Inc. by 5.5%, holding a total of 84,905 shares worth approximately $13.05 million.
• Welltower reported earnings per share of $1.28 for its latest quarter, exceeding estimates and showing a 39.6% year-over-year revenue increase to $2.55 billion.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.67 to $0.74, representing an annualized yield of 1.7%.

Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 84,905 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 4,445 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Welltower were worth $13,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $762,204,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 41.6% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,923,852 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,367,226,000 after buying an additional 2,622,384 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Welltower by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,289,684 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,261,792,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614,562 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,728,088 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 55.6% during the first quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 3,013,247 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $461,660,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,293 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 27th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Welltower from $172.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 28th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Welltower from $175.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $179.42.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $170.94 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $114.33 billion, a PE ratio of 96.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.93. The business's fifty day moving average price is $165.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $155.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 4.19 and a quick ratio of 4.19. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $122.34 and a 12 month high of $173.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.06. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.38% and a net margin of 12.18%.The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 EPS. Welltower's revenue for the quarter was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.060-5.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 12th. Welltower's payout ratio is currently 167.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach bought 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.21% of the company's stock.

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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