GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Purchases New Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,239 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $1,416,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. acquired a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on WELL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "equal weight" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $161.83.

Welltower Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of Welltower stock traded down $0.71 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $151.76. The company had a trading volume of 2,244,135 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,909,597. The company has a market cap of $99.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $99.95 and a twelve month high of $158.55. The company's 50-day moving average is $147.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during 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 company's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.