Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stock Position Increased by Royal London Asset Management Ltd.

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 5.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 245,798 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 13,341 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $31,470,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of WELL. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 638.0% during the third 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. FMR LLC raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. purchased a new position in Welltower during the second quarter worth approximately $254,977,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in Welltower by 24.6% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 2,112,452 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $220,223,000 after purchasing an additional 417,046 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 11.1% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,914,363 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $373,126,000 after purchasing an additional 291,839 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $101.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $115.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $120.77.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $131.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,304,742 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,691,205. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $132.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $85.40 and a one year high of $140.75. The stock has a market cap of $81.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.04%. Welltower's dividend 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.