Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 4,290 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 50.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,290 shares during the period. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Mather Group LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $435,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $432,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,889 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.42.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $147.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $94.41 billion, a PE ratio of 94.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $138.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.75. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $87.87 and a one year high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

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.