Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Sets New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $221.00 to $242.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Welltower traded as high as $152.09 and last traded at $151.92, with a volume of 158719 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $149.97.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on WELL. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $140.19.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in Welltower by 37.0% in the third quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in Welltower by 165.5% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Down 0.7 %

The firm has a market cap of $96.01 billion, a PE ratio of 95.97, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $133.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $129.74. 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) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.