Prudential Financial Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 6.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,777,413 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 186,983 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned 0.45% of Welltower worth $350,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in 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 last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 38.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,847,289,000 after buying an additional 3,977,845 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,388,151,000 after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,392,349,000 after buying an additional 1,797,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $90,565,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Welltower Price Performance

NYSE WELL traded up $3.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $153.39. The stock had a trading volume of 2,852,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,802,695. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $145.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $135.52. The company has a market cap of $98.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $158.55. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on WELL. Wedbush raised Welltower from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus 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.