World Investment Advisors Makes New Investment in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

World Investment Advisors acquired a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,236 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in Welltower by 5.3% during the third quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,280 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,084,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 35,467 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,541,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Geller Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 3rd quarter worth $236,000. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 19.4% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 1,757 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $236,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its stake in Welltower by 29.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $136.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.50, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $147.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.58. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.87 and a 12 month high of $158.55.

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 net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

Welltower Company Profile

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.