Van ECK Associates Corp Increases Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 280,340 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 982 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $35,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 638.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,022,000 after buying an additional 5,982,711 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 29.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,659,000 after acquiring an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 28.1% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,649,000 after acquiring an additional 324,520 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.58.

Welltower Stock Down 0.9 %

WELL opened at $150.03 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $128.56. The company has a market capitalization of $93.42 billion, a PE ratio of 98.70, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $151.96. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 176.32%.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a real estate investment trust (“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 infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people’s wellness and overall health care experience.