Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Increases Dividend to $0.85 Per Share

Key Points

• Welltower raised its quarterly dividend 14.9% to $0.85 per share, payable August 20 to shareholders of record as of August 12. The new annualized dividend is $3.40 per share, with a 1.4% yield.
• The REIT’s current payout ratio is high at 126.5%, meaning earnings do not presently cover the dividend; however, analysts expect next year’s earnings to reduce the projected payout ratio to 40.6%.
• Welltower reported quarterly revenue of $3.35 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.02 per share, beating analyst estimates, while revenue increased 38.3% year over year.

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.85 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, August 20th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This is a 14.9% increase from Welltower's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74.

Welltower has raised its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Welltower has a payout ratio of 126.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Welltower to earn $7.29 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 40.6%.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $248.80 on Tuesday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $222.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $209.46. Welltower has a 12-month low of $158.24 and a 12-month high of $252.94. The firm has a market cap of $175.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 123.17, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 4.31, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.68 by $0.34. The company had revenue of $3.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.12 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.45% and a net margin of 11.96%.Welltower's revenue was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower will post 6.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc NYSE: WELL is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower's assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company's property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.

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