Legal & General Group Plc reduced its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 15.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,890,101 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 1,253,351 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned 1.11% of Welltower worth $868,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 2,612,044 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,943,892,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 5.0% during 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 buying an additional 644,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in 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. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Bank of America lifted their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $156.46.
View Our Latest Analysis on Welltower
Welltower Price Performance
NYSE WELL traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $142.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,651,403 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,864,108. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. The stock has a market cap of $92.50 billion, a PE ratio of 91.45, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The company's 50-day moving average is $147.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $136.90. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55.
Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.
Welltower Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.88%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.
Welltower Company Profile
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Free Report)
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.
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