Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.67

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.67 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th.

Welltower has raised its dividend by an average of 1.6% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Welltower has a dividend payout ratio of 116.5% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Welltower to earn $5.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.7%.

Welltower Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Welltower stock traded up $0.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $150.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,367,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,878,669. The stock has a market cap of $98.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower has a 52 week low of $95.86 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $148.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $139.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.01 EPS. The business's revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on WELL. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "equal weight" rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $157.46.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Welltower stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,185 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 279 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in Welltower were worth $527,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company's stock.

About Welltower

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.