Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 49,962 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lessened its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,301,468 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 49,962 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 1.01% of Welltower worth $794,176,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Welltower by 165.5% in the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:WELL traded up $2.23 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $149.19. 2,386,868 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,869,869. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $148.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $138.42. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $93.72 and a one year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.14 by $0.06. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 1.80%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower's payout ratio is 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on WELL shares. Wedbush restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $156.46.

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.