First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Acquires 3,285 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 18.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,919 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,285 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,678,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WestEnd Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 3rd quarter valued at $22,635,000. Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV acquired a new stake in Welltower in the third quarter worth $207,000. Avitas Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 1.4% in the third quarter. Avitas Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,160 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,093,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares in the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the third quarter valued at $222,000. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 37.0% during the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on WELL. Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $115.38.

Welltower Stock Up 0.8 %

Welltower stock opened at $138.48 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $82.54 and a fifty-two week high of $139.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a current ratio of 4.07. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $126.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.90. The stock has a market cap of $82.80 billion, a PE ratio of 170.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 1.21.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. Research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend 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.