Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Acquires New Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 541 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of WELL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 638.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,022,000 after buying an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in Welltower in the second quarter valued at approximately $254,977,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Welltower by 10.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,392,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 29.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $134.81.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $136.80 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $130.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $125.23. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $85.40 and a 12 month high of $140.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.00, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 176.32%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a real estate investment trust (“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 infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people’s wellness and overall health care experience.