GAMMA Investing LLC Takes Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,910 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $338,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 25.1% during the 3rd 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 acquiring an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Welltower by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after buying an additional 2,156,673 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Welltower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after buying an additional 1,581,084 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in Welltower by 1,412.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,062,000 after buying an additional 555,353 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in Welltower by 62.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,367,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,020,000 after buying an additional 526,386 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $93.70 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.47 and a fifty-two week high of $94.63. The stock has a market cap of $55.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 146.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $92.03 and a 200-day moving average of $89.28. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 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.