Boston Partners Sells 357,809 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Boston Partners trimmed its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 21.4% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,314,479 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 357,809 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners’ holdings in Welltower were worth $122,826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WELL. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 338.7% in the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the first quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the topic of several analyst reports. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.04.

Welltower Trading Up 0.3 %

Welltower stock traded up $0.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $112.76. 2,827,096 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,629,856. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.38 and a 12 month high of $115.33. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $105.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $97.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $68.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 139.21, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.90 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.38%. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 301.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.