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

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $95.57.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 479.6% in the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 117.8% in the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $94.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.56 billion, a PE ratio of 146.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $92.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.32. Welltower has a 12-month low of $72.47 and a 12-month high of $94.63.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.83 earnings per share. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were issued a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 381.26%.

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.