Creative Planning Acquires 7,329 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 161,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,329 shares during the period. Creative Planning’s holdings in Welltower were worth $16,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 13,798 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 861 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Welltower by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $231,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 137,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,000 after acquiring an additional 6,723 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 66,930 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,035,000 after acquiring an additional 19,730 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in shares of Welltower by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 812,932 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $73,302,000 after acquiring an additional 46,731 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI raised their target price 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. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $113.38.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $128.00 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $120.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $106.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.53 billion, a PE ratio of 158.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 4.07, a current ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $78.38 and a 52 week high of $131.31.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given 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 2.09%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 330.86%.

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.