Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 3,029 Shares of Welltower Inc. $WELL

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 10.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 31,845 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Welltower were worth $4,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SouthState Corp increased its holdings in Welltower by 704.8% during the first quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 169 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Welltower during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $167.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $111.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.41, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $168.60 and a 200 day moving average of $157.26. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $122.34 and a fifty-two week high of $180.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 4.19 and a current ratio of 4.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.49 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.38%. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.060-5.14 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 21st. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 167.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 27th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $181.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $195.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $180.69.

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.