Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc. trimmed its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,155 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 290 shares during the period. Desjardins Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $194,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1,412.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,062,000 after acquiring an additional 555,353 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth about $5,409,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 55.0% during the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $36,643,000 after acquiring an additional 96,046 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 168,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,158,000 after acquiring an additional 61,324 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WELL shares. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Up 1.3 %

WELL stock opened at $90.84 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $94.63. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.94, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 381.26%.

About Welltower

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.