Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stake Trimmed by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN cut its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,042,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 24,267 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned 0.17% of Welltower worth $131,374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at $3,943,892,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% during the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,891,847 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,565,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,558,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,707,570,000 after buying an additional 644,494 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Down 6.0 %

WELL stock opened at $143.26 on Monday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $147.64 and a two-hundred day moving average of $136.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $158.55.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho boosted their target price on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

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.