American Financial Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

American Financial Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,407 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,362 shares during the period. American Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Welltower by 1,412.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,062,000 after purchasing an additional 555,353 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $5,409,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 55.0% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 27.3% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,643,000 after buying an additional 96,046 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 168,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,158,000 after buying an additional 61,324 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WELL traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, reaching $91.32. 1,901,565 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,559,885. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $94.63. The stock has a market cap of $53.97 billion, a PE ratio of 142.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $91.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.92. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 381.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Company Profile

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.