Advisors Asset Management Inc. Acquires 3,460 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,460 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $5,880,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter worth $674,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $14,766,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at about $411,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of Welltower by 19.4% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 27,371 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,558,000 after buying an additional 4,444 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 10.1% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,404,781 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $146,448,000 after buying an additional 129,270 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Up 0.4 %

Welltower stock opened at $137.96 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.40 and a twelve month high of $140.19. The stock has a market cap of $85.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.20. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $130.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.56. 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 (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 176.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price objective (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush increased 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. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Five 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.68.

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.