GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 9.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,964 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 881 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of WELL. First Foundation Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of Welltower by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $127.63.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $125.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $132.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $122.52. The firm has a market cap of $78.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 82.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $85.40 and a 12 month high of $140.75.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.