KBC Group NV Purchases 174,771 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

KBC Group NV raised its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 78.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 396,776 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 174,771 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Welltower were worth $50,005,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,532 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $964,000 after buying an additional 1,844 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $512,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Welltower by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 58,472 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,369,000 after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, Southland Equity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 18.8% in the 4th quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC now owns 4,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WELL. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upped their target price on Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $138.32 on Tuesday. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $85.40 and a 12 month high of $140.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.13 billion, a PE ratio of 91.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $130.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.52. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The company’s revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 EPS. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.