Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Raises Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 262,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,214 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $33,021,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $553,000. Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $638,000. Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 90,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,946 shares in the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,078,000. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 7,978 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on WELL. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America raised their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Mizuho raised 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. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $147.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.76 billion, a PE ratio of 94.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. 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 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $158.55. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $143.06 and a 200 day moving average of $134.44.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. 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.