Impax Asset Management Group plc Purchases 6,927 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Impax Asset Management Group plc grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 23.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,375 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,927 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc’s holdings in Welltower were worth $4,657,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,333,716,000 after purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 26.4% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $814,678,000 after purchasing an additional 62,942 shares during the period. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% in the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares during the period. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 12.4% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,229,000 after purchasing an additional 489,533 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.38.

Welltower Price Performance

Welltower stock opened at $135.12 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $84.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.89, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $128.01 and its 200 day moving average is $113.31. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $84.38 and a 52-week high of $139.80.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

Welltower 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.