Empowered Funds LLC Grows Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,226 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Creative Planning increased its stake in Welltower by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 165,077 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $21,135,000 after purchasing an additional 3,682 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 5.0% during the third quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 12,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,638,000 after buying an additional 611 shares during the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its stake in Welltower by 1,088.0% in the 3rd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 1,188 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares during the last quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group purchased a new position in Welltower in the 3rd quarter worth $360,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Welltower by 182.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 3,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Raymond James raised their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush raised shares of 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. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.58.

Welltower Trading Down 0.9 %

WELL stock opened at $150.03 on Monday. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $151.96. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $93.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.70, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $128.94.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 176.32%.

About Welltower

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.