Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Purchases 49,900 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 63.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 128,339 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 49,900 shares during the quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Welltower were worth $16,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 37.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 165.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.19.

Welltower Stock Performance

Welltower stock opened at $148.69 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $133.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $130.36. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $152.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued 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 1.80%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.