MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 9,167 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 168,461 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,167 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $21,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Welltower during the second quarter worth $254,977,000. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the first quarter valued at $66,905,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,112,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,223,000 after purchasing an additional 417,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,914,363 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $373,126,000 after purchasing an additional 291,839 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WELL. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.50.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $139.30 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $131.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $117.80. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.40 and a 52 week high of $140.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.64, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 176.32%.

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.