Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Purchases New Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,105 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 26.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,748,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,079 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the first quarter worth $309,917,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total transaction of $187,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,514,903.89. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL traded up $3.92 on Tuesday, hitting $114.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,730,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,698,254. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $105.52 and its 200-day simple moving average is $97.25. The firm has a market cap of $70.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.38 and a 12 month high of $115.86. The company has a quick ratio of 3.83, a current ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.16 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.33%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $104.88.

Welltower Company Profile

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.