Groupe la Francaise Increases Stake in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Key Points

• Groupe la Francaise increased its stake in Welltower Inc. by 10.8%, acquiring an additional 7,426 shares and bringing its total holdings to 75,908 shares valued at approximately $11.38 million.
• A significant earnings report revealed that Welltower surpassed analysts' expectations with earnings per share of $1.28 and revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to estimates of $1.22 EPS and $2.49 billion in revenue.
• The company recently raised its quarterly dividend from $0.67 to $0.74 per share, representing an increase of over 10% and yielding approximately 1.8% annually.

Groupe la Francaise boosted its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 10.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 75,908 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 7,426 shares during the period. Groupe la Francaise's holdings in Welltower were worth $11,379,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. SouthState Corp grew its stake in Welltower by 704.8% during the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 169 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 1st quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Franchise Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of Welltower 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 acquisition, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,029,200. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on WELL shares. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $174.10.

Welltower Stock Down 0.3%

WELL traded down $0.58 on Thursday, hitting $167.18. The company had a trading volume of 526,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,908,942. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $160.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $152.83. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.93 and a 12-month high of $171.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 0.93.

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

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. This is an increase from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is currently 167.23%.

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.