Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stake Raised by National Pension Service

National Pension Service boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,047,763 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 31,791 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.19% of Welltower worth $94,477,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,372 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $522,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 1.6% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 7,632 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $625,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 21.2% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 691 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.5% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,167 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,062,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 1.7% during the third quarter. Stiles Financial Services Inc now owns 7,906 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WELL. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $96.07.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL traded up $0.76 during trading on Thursday, hitting $99.16. 2,253,006 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,537,148. The company has a market cap of $59.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 122.42, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.07. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $72.47 and a 1 year high of $99.34. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $92.60 and its 200 day moving average price is $90.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 3.83 and a quick ratio of 3.83.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 13th will be paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 10th. Welltower's payout ratio is 301.23%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL, a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.