Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 17.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 216,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 31,968 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $19,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,673 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 22.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,141,000 after acquiring an additional 99,314 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,627,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $542,944,000 after acquiring an additional 48,051 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Down 1.0 %

WELL stock opened at $94.36 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $92.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $89.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 116.49, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.07. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.47 and a fifty-two week high of $98.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.83.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 301.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on WELL shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Scotiabank cut their target price on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

Welltower Company Profile

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.