VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Takes $63.09 Million Position in Welltower Inc. $WELL

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 277,967 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $63,090,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Welltower by 23,475.4% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 244,081,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $55,399,177,000 after acquiring an additional 243,046,172 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,466,264,000. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,425,089,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Welltower by 955.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 9,513,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,765,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,612,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,599,351,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $239.47 per share, with a total value of $1,197,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,986,750. This trade represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Mizuho increased their price objective on Welltower from $239.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $249.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $237.00 to $266.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $244.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $251.06.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $236.07 on Monday. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.75 and a 12-month high of $255.20. The stock has a market cap of $170.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.29, a PEG ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average of $237.37 and a 200-day moving average of $218.82. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 12.15%.The business had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.28 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a $0.85 dividend. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 155.96%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.