Pacer Advisors Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 74.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 73,455 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,322 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $9,404,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Trustmark National Bank Trust Department purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $452,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 120.0% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 67,065 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,586,000 after acquiring an additional 36,580 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 3.6% in the third quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 193,743 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,805,000 after acquiring an additional 6,769 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Welltower by 8.1% during the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 45,925 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $5,880,000 after purchasing an additional 3,460 shares during the period. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Welltower in the 3rd quarter worth $1,497,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $137.91 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $116.98. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.40 and a 52-week high of $140.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 90.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The company had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.94%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 176.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WELL. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.68.

Welltower Profile

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.