Welltower Inc. (WELL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.67 on March 6th

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th.

Welltower has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.6% annually over the last three years. Welltower has a payout ratio of 118.6% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Welltower to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 55.9%.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $146.49 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $130.73 and its 200-day moving average is $128.27. Welltower has a 1-year low of $85.40 and a 1-year high of $148.50. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $91.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America upped their price target on Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $134.96.

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.