Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $95.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a report on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $101.32.

Welltower Stock Up 1.7 %

WELL opened at $111.66 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $66.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 3.83 and a current ratio of 3.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $104.42 and a 200-day moving average of $96.50. Welltower has a fifty-two week low of $78.38 and a fifty-two week high of $112.16.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.72). The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.13 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 12th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. This is a positive change from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.61. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 301.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Welltower news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total transaction of $187,038.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.12% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,187,884 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,333,716,000 after acquiring an additional 3,257,213 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in Welltower by 26.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,236,326 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,731,842,000 after purchasing an additional 6,104,064 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $2,453,039,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,012,500 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,173,337,000 after purchasing an additional 87,106 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $720,141,000 after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Company Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.