2,400 Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Acquired by Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of WELL. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,104,830,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 426.4% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 4,927,021 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $353,218,000 after buying an additional 3,991,041 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 25.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,615,662,000 after buying an additional 2,156,673 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 22.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $695,223,000 after buying an additional 1,581,084 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL traded up $0.51 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $91.32. The company had a trading volume of 1,901,567 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,154,325. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.22. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $72.47 and a one year high of $94.63. The firm has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 142.69, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.08. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.99.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 381.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Scotiabank cut their price target on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.