Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 232,457 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,247 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $24,234,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,857,000. Connors Investor Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the first quarter. Connors Investor Services Inc. now owns 117,715 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $10,999,000 after buying an additional 11,238 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 88.1% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,118,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $104,072,000 after buying an additional 523,656 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 26.6% during the fourth quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 89,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,085,000 after buying an additional 18,807 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 1,019,796 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $91,955,000 after buying an additional 72,968 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Welltower from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Welltower from $103.00 to $107.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $109.58.

Welltower Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $128.63 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $78.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 158.80, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 4.07 and a quick ratio of 4.07. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $78.38 and a 1 year high of $129.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.95.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.89 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.21% and a net margin of 8.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.90 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Monday, August 12th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.08%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 12th. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 330.86%.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.