Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $120.77.

WELL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research upgraded Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $131.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $81.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.40, a PEG ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $132.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $119.13. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Welltower has a twelve month low of $85.40 and a twelve month high of $140.75.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. The firm’s revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 176.32%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter valued at about $674,000. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the second quarter worth about $411,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 10.1% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,404,781 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $146,448,000 after acquiring an additional 129,270 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 93.8% during the third quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 18,474 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,365,000 after purchasing an additional 8,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at approximately $254,977,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.