Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 414,754 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 25,622 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund’s holdings in Welltower were worth $37,398,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 479.6% during the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 117.8% during the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 84.0% during the fourth quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Up 0.8 %

WELL stock opened at $93.70 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.47 and a 12-month high of $94.63. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market cap of $55.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.41, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $92.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $89.28.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 381.26%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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