Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Rating Increased 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 equities analysts have also commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $96.07.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $99.16 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a current ratio of 3.83. Welltower has a 52 week low of $72.47 and a 52 week high of $99.34. The firm has a market cap of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.07.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly 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 net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 301.23%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth about $2,453,039,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 25.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $695,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $2,085,836,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.