Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Raised to Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $147.00 price target on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their prior price target of $132.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 16.64% from the stock’s previous close.

WELL has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Mizuho raised their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $127.63.

Welltower Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $126.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market cap of $78.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 82.92, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average is $132.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $122.50. Welltower has a 52-week low of $85.40 and a 52-week high of $140.75.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Research analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,228,000 after purchasing an additional 16,946 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 391,264 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $49,925,000 after buying an additional 12,265 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in Welltower by 51.3% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $426,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 46.2% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,016 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,691,000 after acquiring an additional 6,639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

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.