Natixis Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 6.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 335,559 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 21,559 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $42,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in Welltower by 147.9% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 22,294 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 13,300 shares during the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $674,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,766,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in Welltower by 15.1% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 41,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,903,000 after purchasing an additional 5,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $411,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on WELL. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $121.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $106.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Welltower to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.68.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $136.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a current ratio of 4.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $130.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.70 billion, a PE ratio of 89.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $85.40 and a fifty-two week high of $140.19.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by ($0.31). The company 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 was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. Welltower’s payout ratio is presently 176.32%.

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.