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

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $204.80.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on WELL shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $182.00 to $214.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 13th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $231.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. National Bankshares set a $246.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $204.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, January 5th.

Welltower Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $186.12 on Friday. Welltower has a 12-month low of $123.11 and a 12-month high of $209.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $127.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 128.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $175.57. The company has a quick ratio of 5.47, a current ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.04. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.71% and a net margin of 9.69%.The business had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.240-5.300 EPS. Research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 11th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 204.14%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,778,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,993,121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,991,896 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in Welltower by 4.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 46,516,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,285,296,000 after buying an additional 1,842,934 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Welltower by 4.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 41,253,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,348,979,000 after acquiring an additional 1,637,665 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,903,554,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in Welltower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,378,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,452,102,000 after acquiring an additional 367,463 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.