GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Invests $1.42 Million in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

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

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $161.83.

Welltower Trading Up 0.3%

WELL stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $153.51. The company had a trading volume of 997,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,905,106. The stock has a market cap of $100.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.39, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.13 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $147.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $141.11.

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

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. Welltower's payout ratio is presently 154.02%.

Welltower Company 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.