Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stake Reduced by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 13.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 88,961 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 13,769 shares during the quarter. Welltower accounts for approximately 0.7% of Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $11,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Welltower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,228,000 after purchasing an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,817,000 after buying an additional 7,872 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 380,888 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after acquiring an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,114,000 after acquiring an additional 285,015 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WELL. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

Welltower Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of WELL opened at $153.03 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $158.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $147.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $136.08.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 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.