Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stake in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 6.8% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 93,256 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 5,970 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $18,438,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $5,466,264,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 955.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 9,513,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,765,808,000 after buying an additional 8,612,016 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 153.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,744,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,994,290,000 after buying an additional 6,497,258 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,421,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,154,349,000 after buying an additional 2,643,088 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,826,035 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,123,082,000 after acquiring an additional 1,734,922 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on WELL. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Welltower from $237.00 to $248.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Barclays assumed coverage on Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $254.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Welltower from $228.00 to $237.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Welltower from $248.00 to $232.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.72.

Welltower Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE WELL opened at $234.40 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 4.31 and a quick ratio of 4.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $165.46 billion, a PE ratio of 116.04, a PEG ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.77. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $155.33 and a 1 year high of $239.10. The business’s 50-day moving average is $216.78 and its 200 day moving average is $205.44.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.68 by $0.34. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.45% and a net margin of 11.96%.The business had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Welltower’s quarterly revenue was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.210-6.350 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 13th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 146.53%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.