Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Holdings Boosted by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 320,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 21,000 shares during the period. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.05% of Welltower worth $40,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,943,892,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in Welltower by 9.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,989,106,000 after buying an additional 1,354,231 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,558,841 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,707,570,000 after acquiring an additional 644,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.1% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Up 0.6 %

WELL stock traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $142.66. 2,651,403 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,864,108. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.90. The company has a market capitalization of $92.50 billion, a PE ratio of 91.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.87 and a twelve month high of $158.55. 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 (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower's dividend 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.