World Equity Group Inc. Takes Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

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

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Welltower in the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Franchise Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the first quarter valued at $32,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 57.2% in the first quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 294 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 27.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the 1st quarter worth about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $170.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $163.75.

Welltower Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of WELL stock traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $153.46. The company had a trading volume of 3,107,724 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,934,491. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.13 and a 1-year high of $158.55. 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 firm has a market cap of $100.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 88.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a 50 day moving average of $150.11 and a 200 day moving average of $143.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 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 business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

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