Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. Sells 187 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,987 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 187 shares during the quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $559,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Welltower by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,132,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,085,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,150 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in Welltower by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,173,337,000 after purchasing an additional 87,106 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in Welltower by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,141,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.32.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL traded up $0.85 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $110.44. The stock had a trading volume of 1,104,609 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,663,989. The company’s 50-day moving average is $103.71 and its 200 day moving average is $95.94. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.38 and a 12-month high of $111.39. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $66.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.18.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value of $187,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Welltower Profile

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.