ING Groep NV Cuts Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

ING Groep NV lowered its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 25,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,840 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 335,825 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $42,324,000 after acquiring an additional 18,807 shares in the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 23,389 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,948,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 5,675 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $715,000 after purchasing an additional 571 shares during the last quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc boosted its position in Welltower by 166.2% during the fourth quarter. Financial Perspectives Inc now owns 575 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Welltower by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 766,965 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $96,661,000 after purchasing an additional 23,600 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on WELL. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Bank of America upped their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.19.

Welltower Stock Performance

Welltower stock opened at $148.69 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $133.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.25. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $152.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.31, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Welltower Company 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.