Bailard Inc. Acquires 173 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Bailard Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,216 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,228,000 after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Welltower by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $185,649,000 after purchasing an additional 324,520 shares during the period. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $367,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on WELL. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $144.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Bank of America lifted their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.96.

Welltower Stock Up 2.2 %

NYSE:WELL opened at $156.91 on Tuesday. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $87.87 and a one year high of $157.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The company has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a PE ratio of 100.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $136.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $131.87.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

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.