Handelsbanken Fonder AB Increases Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 335,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,807 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Welltower were worth $42,324,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WELL. Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 23,389 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,948,000 after acquiring an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC raised its position in Welltower by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 5,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the period. Financial Perspectives Inc lifted its stake in Welltower by 166.2% in the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Welltower by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 766,965 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $96,661,000 after buying an additional 23,600 shares during the period. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at about $3,270,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $150.47 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $152.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day moving average is $133.44 and its 200 day moving average is $129.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.19.

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.