Spinnaker Trust Decreases Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Spinnaker Trust lowered its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,960 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 976 shares during the quarter. Spinnaker Trust’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,972,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its position in Welltower by 479.6% during the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 259 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 117.8% during the 3rd quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Welltower in the third quarter worth about $38,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective 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. BNP Paribas began coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.57.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL traded up $0.34 during trading on Friday, hitting $94.34. 1,796,775 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,541,948. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.47 and a 1 year high of $94.99. The company has a market cap of $55.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 147.41, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.08. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $92.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.40.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 381.26%.

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.