Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 63,633 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans decreased its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 34.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 121,124 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 63,633 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Welltower were worth $12,627,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,857,000. Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $10,999,000 after acquiring an additional 11,238 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Welltower by 88.1% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,118,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $104,072,000 after acquiring an additional 523,656 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its holdings in Welltower by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,019,796 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $91,955,000 after acquiring an additional 72,968 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% in the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $129.08 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.28. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $78.38 and a 1-year high of $131.31. The firm has a market cap of $78.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

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

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change 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%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 330.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.38.

About Welltower

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.