Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 13.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,122 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $478,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the first quarter valued at $762,204,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Welltower by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,495,000 after buying an additional 2,939,229 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 17,343.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,287,000 after buying an additional 1,728,088 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Welltower by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,357,617,000 after buying an additional 1,652,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $194,272,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $167.93 on Tuesday. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $115.18 and a fifty-two week high of $171.09. The company has a market capitalization of $112.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $150.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.38%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 151.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on WELL. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Welltower from $162.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $169.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 20,000 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,029,200. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.21% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.