Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives $150.19 Average PT from Brokerages

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $156.46.

WELL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Welltower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $146.84 on Monday. Welltower has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The company has a market cap of $94.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $143.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $134.62.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Research analysts anticipate that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,943,892,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 valued at $886,022,000 after acquiring an additional 5,982,711 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,495,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,388,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.