Board of the Pension Protection Fund Makes New Investment in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $920,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 10.6% in the third 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. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 38.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 638.0% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $776,657,000 after purchasing an additional 46,332 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,914,363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $373,126,000 after purchasing an additional 291,839 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $135.00 price target (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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 research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $127.63.

Welltower Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $126.65. 2,525,246 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,347,127. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 83.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $85.40 and a 52-week high of $140.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $130.92 and a 200-day moving average of $124.06.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

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.