Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives $140.19 Average PT from Analysts

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $140.19.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on WELL. Raymond James raised 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. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL stock traded down $2.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $148.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 911,002 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,567,940. The stock has a market cap of $95.04 billion, a PE ratio of 95.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.23. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $152.81. The company's 50 day moving average is $133.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $129.88.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.81%. Welltower's payout ratio is 171.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Whittier Trust Co. increased its stake in Welltower by 16.9% in the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 4,331 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 4.4% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,824 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,002,000 after buying an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 5.4% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,747 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,248,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its holdings in Welltower by 28.0% during the third quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 4,399 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $564,000 after buying an additional 962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the third quarter worth about $976,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.