Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $161.83.

A number of brokerages recently commented on WELL. Wall Street Zen downgraded Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Bank of America upped their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wedbush reiterated an "underperform" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th.

Welltower Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:WELL traded up $1.29 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $154.36. The stock had a trading volume of 7,389,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,918,845. The company has a market cap of $100.94 billion, a PE ratio of 98.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $147.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $141.28. Welltower has a 1-year low of $100.13 and a 1-year 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.

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 for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. The business's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.74%. Welltower's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 154.02%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in 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 during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Welltower by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,674,826,000 after buying an additional 318,496 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $3,943,892,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 14.0% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 21,289,684 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,261,792,000 after acquiring an additional 2,614,562 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,357,617,000 after acquiring an additional 1,652,611 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.