Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Declares $0.67 Quarterly Dividend

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th.

Welltower has increased its dividend by an average of 1.6% per year over the last three years. Welltower has a payout ratio of 118.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Welltower to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.9%.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL traded up $3.09 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $146.49. The stock had a trading volume of 3,815,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,556,016. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $130.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $128.27. Welltower has a one year low of $85.40 and a one year high of $148.50. The firm has a market cap of $91.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. As a group, research analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on WELL. Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted 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. Bank of America increased their price objective on Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $134.96.

About Welltower

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.