O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Buys 5,470 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 41,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 5,470 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,903,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 109 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Welltower by 21.2% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 691 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Graypoint LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 2,687 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $251,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 5,156 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, HBK Sorce Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WELL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Mizuho upped their price target on Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.32.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL traded up $0.96 on Tuesday, hitting $109.59. The stock had a trading volume of 2,594,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,675,127. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $103.50 and a 200-day moving average of $95.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a current ratio of 3.83. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.38 and a 52-week high of $110.63. The company has a market capitalization of $65.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.18.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value of $187,038.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,514,903.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.12% of the company’s stock.

About Welltower

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.