Clarius Group LLC Has $314,000 Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Clarius Group LLC reduced its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,486 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 321 shares during the period. Clarius Group LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Panagora Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 40.0% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,671,000 after buying an additional 4,962 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $505,000 after buying an additional 1,373 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,989,000 after buying an additional 982 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 97.4% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the first quarter worth approximately $220,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $89.79 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $88.80. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.47 and a 1-year high of $94.63. The firm has a market cap of $53.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 140.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 381.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the subject of several analyst reports. 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 objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $92.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Monday, December 18th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

About Welltower

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.