Bank of Montreal Can Sells 32,444 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Bank of Montreal Can lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 726,130 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 32,444 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Welltower were worth $92,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. First Foundation Advisors bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Welltower in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerpoint Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the second quarter valued at about $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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $117.50.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $138.96 on Wednesday. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.40 and a fifty-two week high of $140.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $131.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $117.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

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.