M.D. Sass LLC Takes Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

M.D. Sass LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 386,946 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $48,767,000. Welltower comprises about 3.7% of M.D. Sass LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. M.D. Sass LLC owned 0.06% of Welltower at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its position in Welltower by 3.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,228,000 after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares during the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower by 120.3% during the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,872 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its position in Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,114,000 after purchasing an additional 285,015 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America upped their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $150.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $143.98 and a 200-day moving average price of $134.97. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.30 billion, a PE ratio of 96.26, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.