New Age Alpha Advisors LLC Invests $15.03 Million in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

New Age Alpha Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 119,216 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $15,025,000. Welltower accounts for approximately 0.6% of New Age Alpha Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Easterly Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 781.6% during the fourth quarter. Easterly Investment Partners LLC now owns 114,716 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $14,458,000 after purchasing an additional 101,704 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth about $3,943,892,000. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in Welltower by 528.7% in the 4th quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 30.8% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 31,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,990,000 after purchasing an additional 7,463 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 395,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,876,000 after acquiring an additional 12,364 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $150.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.31, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $145.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released 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 net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 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.