Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 29.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 402,281 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 164,009 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC owned about 0.07% of Welltower worth $36,274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Welltower by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596,718 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,673 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Welltower by 1,412.2% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,062,000 after buying an additional 555,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Welltower by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,367,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,020,000 after buying an additional 526,386 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp upped their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.57.

Welltower Trading Down 0.3 %

WELL traded down $0.27 on Friday, hitting $95.81. The company had a trading volume of 2,522,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,562,263. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $57.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 118.28, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $92.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.69. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.47 and a 1 year high of $98.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.72). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 301.23%.

About Welltower

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.