Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 17.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 216,268 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 31,968 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $19,501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Welltower by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,615,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,673 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Welltower by 22.9% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of Welltower by 1,412.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,062,000 after purchasing an additional 555,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 62.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,367,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,020,000 after buying an additional 526,386 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WELL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of WELL opened at $94.36 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $55.77 billion, a PE ratio of 116.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 1.07. The company’s fifty day moving average is $92.17 and its 200 day moving average is $89.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.83. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.47 and a fifty-two week high of $98.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 301.23%.

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.