Axa S.A. Lowers Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Axa S.A. trimmed its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 481,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,239 shares during the quarter. Axa S.A. owned about 0.08% of Welltower worth $50,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WELL. First Foundation Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter worth $30,000. Finally, Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 338.7% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $129.08 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.07. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.63 billion, a PE ratio of 159.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.38 and a 52-week high of $131.31.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 12th. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 330.86%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $113.38.

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.