Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 107,987 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 8.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,341,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 107,987 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned 0.22% of Welltower worth $168,727,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Korea Investment CORP grew its position in shares of Welltower by 96.9% during the 4th quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 479,945 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,487,000 after buying an additional 236,233 shares during the period. Financial Counselors Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower by 146.4% in the fourth quarter. Financial Counselors Inc. now owns 10,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,295,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104 shares during the period. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at $962,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 44.1% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 402,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,751,000 after purchasing an additional 123,228 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 56,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,084,000 after purchasing an additional 3,327 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WELL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $150.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $96.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.31, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $87.87 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.31 and a 200 day moving average of $135.34.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.