Insider Buying: Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Director Acquires 20,000 Shares of Stock

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $151.46 per share, with a total value of $3,029,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Welltower Trading Up 1.4%

NYSE:WELL traded up $2.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $152.77. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,513,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,920,275. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $151.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 4.23. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $102.92 and a twelve month high of $158.55. The stock has a market cap of $99.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 87.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.41% and a net margin of 12.65%. The company's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Welltower's payout ratio is currently 154.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WELL. Wedbush restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $168.18.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SouthState Corp raised its position in shares of Welltower by 704.8% during the 1st 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. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC bought a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $31,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.