National Pension Service Buys 220,201 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 18.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,385,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 220,201 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.23% of Welltower worth $177,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Old North State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,864 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. BSW Wealth Partners grew its stake in Welltower by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 2,433 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $311,000 after purchasing an additional 426 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 279,358 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,811,000 after buying an additional 41,819 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 66,802 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,553,000 after buying an additional 12,599 shares during the period. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 136.9% in the 3rd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 829 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $106,000 after purchasing an additional 479 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $134.31 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.10. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $84.38 and a one year high of $139.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.36, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 176.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.38.

Welltower Company 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.