World Equity Group Inc. Makes New Investment in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

World Equity Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,183 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at $3,943,892,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Welltower by 53.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,062,495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,939,229 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 1,891,847 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 17,343.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $266,287,000 after buying an additional 1,728,088 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Welltower Stock Down 1.0%

WELL stock opened at $151.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 4.23 and a quick ratio of 4.23. The company has a 50-day moving average of $149.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.13 and a 52-week high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.41% and a net margin of 12.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. The company's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. Welltower's payout ratio is currently 154.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $163.25.

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.

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