Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Acquired by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 415 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Welltower by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,673 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $1,104,830,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 25.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 2.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,792,006 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $772,087,000 after acquiring an additional 237,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Welltower by 22.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $90.35 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $88.64. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $72.47 and a 12 month high of $94.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.17, a PEG ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.22 and a quick ratio of 3.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 earnings per share. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 381.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WELL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $92.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Monday, December 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. BNP Paribas started coverage on Welltower in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

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.