Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 225,018 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas lessened its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 41.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 313,745 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 225,018 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Welltower were worth $48,069,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,674,826,000 after purchasing an additional 318,496 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,943,892,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in Welltower by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,357,617,000 after buying an additional 1,652,611 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,989,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,231 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.18.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $151.46 per share, for a total transaction of $3,029,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,000 shares in the company, valued at $3,029,200. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL stock opened at $150.71 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $102.92 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $150.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $144.07. The firm has a market cap of $98.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.61, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 3.41%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 154.02%.

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.