Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Monday morning.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on WELL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a buy rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $104.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $96.07.

Welltower Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE WELL opened at $98.42 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.83. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.00. Welltower has a 12 month low of $72.47 and a 12 month high of $98.66. The company has a market capitalization of $58.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 121.51, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.07.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 301.23%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,748,369,000 after acquiring an additional 5,173,079 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors grew its position in Welltower by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,132,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,085,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,150 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,173,337,000 after acquiring an additional 87,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Welltower by 22.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,084 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.