Pitcairn Co. Decreases Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Pitcairn Co. lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 59.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,847 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Welltower by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $143.26 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $147.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $136.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $87.87 and a one year high of $158.55. The company has a market capitalization of $92.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio 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.