Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Price Target Raised to $145.00

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) had its target price boosted by Evercore ISI from $144.00 to $145.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an in-line rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on WELL. Raymond James upped their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.42.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $148.93 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $138.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.41. Welltower has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $158.55. The firm has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.46, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts forecast that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position 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 worth $60,228,000 after purchasing an additional 16,946 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $367,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 28.1% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,649,000 after acquiring an additional 324,520 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.