Ballentine Partners LLC Boosts Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Ballentine Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,924 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 329 shares during the quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $747,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 38.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at about $254,977,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Welltower by 10.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after buying an additional 1,797,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 29.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after buying an additional 380,888 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE WELL opened at $131.17 on Thursday. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.40 and a 52 week high of $140.75. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $130.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $124.91. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.68 billion, a PE ratio of 86.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 176.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on WELL. Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.63.

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.