342,014 Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Bought by Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 342,014 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $42,856,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.05% of Welltower as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,228,000 after acquiring an additional 16,946 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after purchasing an additional 7,872 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings 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 valued at $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $244,114,000 after buying an additional 285,015 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $143.26 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $147.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.29. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.83, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

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.