Buckingham Capital Management Inc. Has $4.61 Million Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Buckingham Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,563 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 609 shares during the period. Buckingham Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $4,608,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 638.0% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 5,982,711 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 38.1% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake 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 valued at $2,392,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,649,000 after purchasing an additional 324,520 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $150.03 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $131.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $151.96.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. On average, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 176.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WELL. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Raymond James boosted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.58.

Welltower Profile

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.