Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Venture Visionary Partners LLC

Venture Visionary Partners LLC lowered its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 5.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 83,067 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 4,701 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $10,635,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of WELL. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Welltower by 26.4% during the 1st 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 acquiring an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $309,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $8,333,716,000 after acquiring an additional 3,257,213 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $254,977,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on WELL. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and set a $135.00 target price (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $115.38.

Welltower Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of WELL stock traded down $2.18 during trading on Monday, hitting $130.06. 2,414,187 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,696,550. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 4.07 and a quick ratio of 4.07. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $124.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $109.98. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.80 and a 52-week high of $132.54.

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

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Welltower's payout ratio is presently 330.86%.

About Welltower

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.