Alliancebernstein L.P. Raises Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,140,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 79,444 shares during the quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $143,724,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Welltower by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,943,892,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Welltower by 10.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Welltower by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,585,000 after acquiring an additional 117,170 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,773,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $477,314,000 after acquiring an additional 589,255 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WELL. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of WELL stock opened at $154.10 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $146.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.96. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month 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 $98.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20.

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

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.74%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.79%.

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.