US Bancorp DE Cuts Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

US Bancorp DE lessened its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 44,103 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 734 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE’s holdings in Welltower were worth $5,558,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,228,000 after buying an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after acquiring an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 28.1% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,649,000 after buying an additional 324,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $367,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WELL. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Welltower from $144.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.35.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $154.01 on Wednesday. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $98.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $137.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $132.14.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Welltower Company 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.