Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Grows Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 375,450 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 20,048 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned approximately 0.06% of Welltower worth $39,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 196 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 35.5% in the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 4,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 1,141 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 21.8% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,200 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,287 shares during the period. Conning Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 3,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $325,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 9,310 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $971,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on WELL. Scotiabank raised their target price on Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 3rd. Wedbush raised their price objective on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.58.

Welltower Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $0.52 on Thursday, reaching $120.55. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,001,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,658,904. The company has a market capitalization of $72.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $110.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $100.71. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.38 and a 52 week high of $121.48. 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 (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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.90 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 330.86%.

Insider Transactions at Welltower

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total transaction of $187,038.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares in the company, valued at $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

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.