Empower Advisory Group LLC Buys Shares of 1,599 Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Empower Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,599 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 38.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after buying an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 638.0% during 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 in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $776,657,000 after purchasing an additional 46,332 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,106,666 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $391,533,000 after purchasing an additional 192,303 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $150.47 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $129.88. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $96.50 billion, a PE ratio of 96.46, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.23. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $152.81.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. On average, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.91 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 171.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.19.

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.