Ethic Inc. Raises Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Ethic Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 26.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 79,917 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 16,715 shares during the period. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Welltower were worth $10,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,817,000 after buying an additional 7,872 shares during the period. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $215,659,000 after buying an additional 380,888 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 30.7% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $68,666,000 after buying an additional 128,090 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,696,000 after buying an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $244,114,000 after buying an additional 285,015 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WELL. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "equal weight" rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $161.83.

Welltower Stock Up 0.8%

WELL stock traded up $1.13 on Friday, hitting $149.38. 1,763,999 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,895,406. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $98.36 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $147.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.86. 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 $97.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is currently 154.02%.

Welltower Profile

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.