Point72 Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 13,324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,389,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Welltower by 26.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Welltower by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,748,369,000 after purchasing an additional 5,173,079 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth approximately $309,917,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at $254,977,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $507,771,000 after buying an additional 849,898 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $126.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 156.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.07. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $79.56 and a 1 year high of $131.31. The company’s fifty day moving average is $121.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $106.81.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.90 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 330.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Wolfe Research raised Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.38.

Welltower 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.