Mechanics Bank Trust Department Invests $211,000 in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Mechanics Bank Trust Department purchased a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,649 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,333,716,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in Welltower by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after buying an additional 6,104,064 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Welltower by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,678,000 after acquiring an additional 62,942 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 12.4% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,229,000 after acquiring an additional 489,533 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Up 1.7 %

WELL opened at $125.18 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $122.69 and a 200 day moving average of $108.37. The company has a current ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.80 and a 12 month high of $131.31. The company has a market cap of $74.85 billion, a PE ratio of 154.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 330.86%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.38.

Welltower 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.