J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 9.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 1.6% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 7,632 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 0.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc grew its stake in Welltower by 1.7% in the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,906 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 2.9% in the third quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 4,949 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $93.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $55.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 146.41, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.47 and a 1 year high of $94.63. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $92.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $89.28.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 381.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price target on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has an average 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.