ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 92,136 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 42.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,602 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 92,136 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $15,452,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at $68,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $161.83.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL traded up $0.49 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $151.14. 2,681,836 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,908,152. The company has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a PE ratio of 96.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $147.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $140.38. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $99.77 and a 1 year high of $158.55. 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 (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The business's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Welltower's payout ratio is 154.02%.

Welltower Profile

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.