Man Group plc Buys New Shares in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 56,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $12,863,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Leonteq Securities AG raised its holdings in Welltower by 92.3% during the first quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 125 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Kilter Group LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 124.6% in the first quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 137 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Solstein Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In related news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $239.47 per share, for a total transaction of $1,197,350.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,986,750. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Welltower from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $254.00 target price on the stock. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Welltower from $248.00 to $232.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.11.

Welltower Stock Down 0.9%

WELL stock opened at $239.42 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.75 and a 1-year high of $255.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $234.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $217.45. The company has a current ratio of 3.16, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $172.56 billion, a PE ratio of 109.82, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.76.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.66 by ($0.05). Welltower had a net margin of 12.15% and a return on equity of 3.56%. The business had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.28 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 6.43 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 12th. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 155.96%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.