Fred Alger Management LLC Purchases 29,306 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 67.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 73,033 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 29,306 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $9,350,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 38.1% in 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 buying an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth about $254,977,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in Welltower by 24.6% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,112,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $220,223,000 after acquiring an additional 417,046 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 291,839 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on WELL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $117.50.

Welltower Stock Down 0.8 %

Welltower stock opened at $138.18 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.91, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $132.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $118.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.40 and a fifty-two week high of $140.75.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 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.