California Public Employees Retirement System Increases Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 61.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,661,201 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 632,143 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.27% of Welltower worth $209,361,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WELL. Townsquare Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 8.8% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 6,702 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $858,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 6.8% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 70,276 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $8,988,000 after acquiring an additional 4,470 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the third quarter worth about $15,364,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Welltower during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,462,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:WELL traded down $1.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $153.03. 2,464,093 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,808,913. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.10, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The firm's 50 day moving average is $146.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $135.96.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is presently 171.79%.

Welltower Company 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.