Callahan Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Callahan Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 45,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,559 shares during the period. Callahan Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $5,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $8,333,716,000 after buying an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Welltower by 26.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after buying an additional 6,104,064 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Welltower by 0.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,678,000 after buying an additional 62,942 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 19.0% during the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $507,771,000 after buying an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,229,000 after purchasing an additional 489,533 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $135.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $84.14 billion, a PE ratio of 88.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $128.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.31. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $84.38 and a fifty-two week high of $139.80.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 176.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WELL. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Scotiabank raised their target price on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $115.38.

Welltower Company Profile

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.