Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Acquired by Sandy Spring Bank

Sandy Spring Bank increased its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,081,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in Welltower by 6.6% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 262,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,021,000 after acquiring an additional 16,214 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $553,000. Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $638,000. Xponance Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 90,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,354,000 after acquiring an additional 6,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $6,078,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on WELL. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $147.77 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The business’s 50-day moving average is $143.06 and its 200-day moving average is $134.44.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

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.