Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Rating Increased to Overweight at Wells Fargo & Company

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) was upgraded by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $158.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target points to a potential upside of 11.57% from the company’s current price.

WELL has been the subject of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James increased their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI raised 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $141.61 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.71. 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 stock has a market cap of $91.82 billion, a PE ratio of 90.78, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week 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 (EPS) 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 25,286 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,874,000 after buying an additional 729 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 73.3% in the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,766 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at about $5,203,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter worth $131,000. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 139,933 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $21,439,000 after buying an additional 11,672 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.