StockNews.com Upgrades Welltower (NYSE:WELL) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. BNP Paribas started coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an outperform rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a buy rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $96.93.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $100.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a current ratio of 3.83. The firm has a market cap of $60.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.07. Welltower has a 52 week low of $72.47 and a 52 week high of $102.66. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.38.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower will post 4.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th were given a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 301.23%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Headlands Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 479.6% during the third quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 338.7% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.