Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. Trims Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,926 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 241 shares during the period. Welltower comprises about 1.6% of Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 16th largest position. Garrison Bradford & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,503,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 worth $2,392,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 638.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Welltower by 0.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 46,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Welltower by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $489,585,000 after acquiring an additional 117,170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $147.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $138.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.75. 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 stock has a market cap of $94.41 billion, a PE ratio of 94.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 171.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.42.

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.