MQS Management LLC Buys 1,803 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

MQS Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 49.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,449 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the period. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $8,333,716,000 after buying an additional 3,257,213 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors increased its holdings 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 valued at $2,085,836,000 after buying an additional 1,361,150 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 valued at $1,173,337,000 after buying an additional 87,106 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were 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 directly 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 through this link. 0.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Welltower Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $1.06 during trading on Thursday, hitting $108.49. The stock had a trading volume of 2,565,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,671,227. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $104.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $96.12. The stock has a market cap of $64.87 billion, a PE ratio of 133.94, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.83. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $78.38 and a 12 month high of $111.85.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.25%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 301.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WELL. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.32.

Welltower Company 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.