Apella Capital LLC Makes New Investment in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Apella Capital LLC bought a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,731,842,000 after buying an additional 6,104,064 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 valued at $7,748,369,000 after acquiring an additional 5,173,079 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Welltower in the first quarter valued at approximately $309,917,000. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Welltower in the second quarter worth $254,977,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 849,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $0.90 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $125.56. 1,966,641 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,728,029. The firm has a market cap of $75.07 billion, a PE ratio of 154.96, a PEG 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 $80.55 and a 1 year high of $131.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $121.46 and its 200 day moving average is $107.04.

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

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 330.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WELL. Wedbush boosted their price target on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Five 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $115.38.

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.