Stokes Family Office LLC Acquires Shares of 4,387 Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Stokes Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,387 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.7% in the third 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. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 120.3% in the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 7,872 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its stake 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 valued at $215,659,000 after acquiring an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,114,000 after purchasing an additional 285,015 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $149.92 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $96.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $142.19 and a 200-day moving average of $134.25.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on WELL shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower 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.