StockNews.com Lowers Welltower (NYSE:WELL) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Monday.

WELL has been the subject of several other research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Welltower to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $115.38.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $123.12 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 151.99, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 4.07, a quick ratio of 4.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $122.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.80. Welltower has a twelve month low of $80.80 and a twelve month high of $131.31.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.34 by $0.08. Welltower had a net margin of 8.36% and a return on equity of 2.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 12th were given a $0.67 dividend. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.18%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 330.86%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,857,000. Connors Investor Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the first quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 117,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,999,000 after acquiring an additional 11,238 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 88.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,118,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $104,072,000 after acquiring an additional 523,656 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 7.7% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,019,796 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $91,955,000 after acquiring an additional 72,968 shares during the period. Finally, Centersquare Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 19.0% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 5,329,248 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $507,771,000 after acquiring an additional 849,898 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.