Amundi Grows Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Amundi grew its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 18.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,773,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 589,255 shares during the period. Amundi owned approximately 0.61% of Welltower worth $477,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in shares of Welltower by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 3rd quarter valued at $50,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $147.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $94.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $138.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.75. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.87 and a 12 month high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 171.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.42.

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.