Busey Bank Has $865,000 Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Busey Bank reduced its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,754 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,374 shares during the period. Busey Bank’s holdings in Welltower were worth $865,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 26.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,731,842,000 after acquiring an additional 6,104,064 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,814,741 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $814,678,000 after acquiring an additional 62,942 shares in the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after purchasing an additional 849,898 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its position in Welltower by 12.4% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 4,433,816 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $414,229,000 after purchasing an additional 489,533 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wolfe Research raised Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $115.38.

Welltower Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $130.20 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $80.80 and a 52-week high of $132.66. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $125.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.55. The stock has a market cap of $77.85 billion, a PE ratio of 160.74, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.21.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This is an increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. Welltower’s 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.