Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Bard Associates Inc.

Bard Associates Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 14,384 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 503 shares during the period. Bard Associates Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during 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 buying an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in 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 buying an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Welltower by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,678,000 after purchasing an additional 62,942 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during 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 buying an additional 849,898 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Welltower by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 4,026,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $419,727,000 after acquiring an additional 139,430 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.68.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $134.42 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $129.77 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.97. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $85.40 and a 1 year high of $140.19. The stock has a market cap of $83.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.43, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

About Welltower

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.