Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund reduced its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,265 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,453 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Mutual Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $224,000. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Welltower by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 333,109 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,036,000 after purchasing an additional 18,351 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Welltower by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 36,597 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,300,000 after purchasing an additional 4,901 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.32.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 14,579 shares in the company, valued at $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Welltower Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $1.29 during trading on Friday, reaching $109.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,104,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,810,044. The company has a market cap of $65.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $104.21 and its 200-day moving average is $96.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a current ratio of 3.83. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $111.85.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.22%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 301.23%.

About Welltower

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.