Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Hits New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Mizuho raised their price target on the stock from $98.00 to $105.00. Mizuho currently has a buy rating on the stock. Welltower traded as high as $98.83 and last traded at $98.50, with a volume of 42847 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $98.40.

WELL has been the subject of several other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $96.07.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 85,930,671 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,748,369,000 after buying an additional 5,173,079 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth about $2,453,039,000. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,132,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,085,836,000 after buying an additional 1,361,150 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,173,337,000 after buying an additional 87,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,581,084 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $58.90 billion, a PE ratio of 121.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.83. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $92.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $90.00.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.06 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 301.23%.

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.