Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Acquires 1,004 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. increased its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,056 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,004 shares during the quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after acquiring an additional 2,156,673 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 25.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after buying an additional 2,596,718 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Welltower by 22.9% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $695,223,000 after buying an additional 1,581,084 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $720,141,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 6,627,731 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $542,944,000 after purchasing an additional 48,051 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WELL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, March 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Performance

Welltower stock traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $96.20. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 186,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,534,530. The firm has a market cap of $57.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 118.28, a PEG ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $92.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.81. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $98.19. The company has a current ratio of 3.83, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 6.37% and a return on equity of 1.77%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.06 EPS 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 301.23%.

Welltower Company Profile

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.