Victory Capital Management Inc. Raises Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 52.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 363,378 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 125,046 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $46,523,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% in the first quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 117,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,999,000 after acquiring an additional 11,238 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 147.9% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,294 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the period. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at about $674,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at about $14,766,000. Finally, O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 15.1% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 5,470 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Five research 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.68.

Welltower Price Performance

Welltower stock opened at $136.02 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.40 and a 52-week high of $140.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $129.98 and a 200-day moving average of $115.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 89.49, a PEG ratio of 3.03 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.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. Welltower’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 176.32%.

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.