Simplicity Solutions LLC Buys 407 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Simplicity Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,761 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $970,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 40.0% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,671,000 after buying an additional 4,962 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 35.4% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,254 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $505,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373 shares in the last quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 31,094 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,989,000 after purchasing an additional 982 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 97.4% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at about $220,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. BNP Paribas began coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:WELL opened at $88.31 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 137.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.08. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $94.63. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $91.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.90. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.79). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.47% and a net margin of 5.12%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.83 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 381.26%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.