Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 84 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. trimmed its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,158 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 84 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WELL. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Welltower by 26.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in Welltower in the first quarter worth about $309,917,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,333,716,000 after buying an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at approximately $254,977,000. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 19.0% during the first 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 in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of WELL stock opened at $129.25 on Wednesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $80.80 and a 12 month high of $131.31. The stock has a market cap of $77.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 159.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.86.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.89 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.90 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 330.86%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.38.

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.