Northern Trust Corp Raises Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 53.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.35% of Welltower worth $1,062,495,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 165.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $50,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two investment 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's stock. According to MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $157.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL stock traded up $0.15 on Friday, hitting $150.48. The company had a trading volume of 2,367,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,877,381. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $94.66 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The stock has a market cap of $98.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $148.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Welltower's revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.