Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 15,000 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 162.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,250 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 purchasing an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. 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 worth $2,731,842,000 after buying an additional 6,104,064 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at $2,453,039,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,173,337,000 after acquiring an additional 87,106 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Welltower by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,141,000 after acquiring an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of WELL stock traded up $1.29 on Friday, hitting $109.78. The stock had a trading volume of 2,104,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,810,044. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.83. The business has a 50 day moving average of $104.21 and a 200 day moving average of $96.26. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $78.38 and a 12-month high of $111.85. The stock has a market cap of $65.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 135.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.18.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were issued 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 yield of 2.22%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 301.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $101.32.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value of $187,038.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,514,903.89. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.