Sterling Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Sterling Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 36,129 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,170 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $4,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $3,943,892,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its stake in Welltower by 23,204.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891,847 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,989,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,231 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $90,565,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Up 0.6 %

Welltower stock opened at $142.66 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $147.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.90. The company has a market capitalization of $92.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. 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.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid 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 1.88%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James increased their price objective 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank increased their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

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.