Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Sold by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 15.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,890,101 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,253,351 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned 1.11% of Welltower worth $868,359,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Welltower by 165.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WELL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush upgraded shares of 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. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $143.26 on Monday. 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. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $147.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.41. The company has a market capitalization of $92.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 91.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given 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 yield of 1.87%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.79%.

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.