Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 15.79% of Welltower worth $12,388,151,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 14.9% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 248,374 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,303,000 after purchasing an additional 32,184 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,560,000. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,238,000. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 49.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 56,066 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,066,000 after purchasing an additional 18,541 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $698,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $146.84 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $143.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.71. The company has a market capitalization of $94.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.13, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly 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 research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.