Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Trims Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 248,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 5,360 shares during the period. Welltower accounts for about 1.2% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $31,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of WELL. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Welltower by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,022,000 after buying an additional 5,982,711 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $776,657,000 after buying an additional 46,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,106,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $391,533,000 after buying an additional 192,303 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.58.

Welltower Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of WELL opened at $150.03 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $131.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $129.07. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $151.96. The firm has a market cap of $93.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. On average, equities analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

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.