Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) have received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $156.46.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted 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.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $141.87 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $147.87 and its 200 day moving average is $136.81. Welltower has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. 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 market capitalization of $91.99 billion, a PE ratio of 90.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,388,151,000 after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,674,826,000 after purchasing an additional 318,496 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,943,892,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Welltower by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,357,617,000 after buying an additional 1,652,611 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,989,106,000 after buying an additional 1,354,231 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.