Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Bought by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 226,114 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 17,817 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $28,949,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the first quarter worth about $309,917,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $254,977,000. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $66,905,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in Welltower by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,112,452 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $220,223,000 after acquiring an additional 417,046 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 worth $373,126,000 after acquiring an additional 291,839 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five research 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 MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.68.

Welltower Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of WELL opened at $137.91 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.11. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $85.88 billion, a PE ratio of 90.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.40 and a 52-week high of $140.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.