Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 62,942 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 62,942 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.31% of Welltower worth $814,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Foundation Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Centerpoint Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $112.38.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL traded down $0.62 on Monday, reaching $129.13. 1,499,001 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,697,370. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $115.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $103.55. The stock has a market cap of $78.66 billion, a PE ratio of 159.72, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $78.38 and a 52-week high of $131.20. The company has a current ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The business's revenue was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. This is a boost from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower's payout ratio is presently 330.86%.

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.