Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stake Boosted by Metis Global Partners LLC

Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 94,192 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 3,574 shares during the quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $11,871,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its stake in Welltower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $60,228,000 after purchasing an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 28.1% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,477,388 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $185,649,000 after purchasing an additional 324,520 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 20,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,638,000 after purchasing an additional 365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $153.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 98.42, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $153.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $136.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.38.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 171.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on WELL shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $145.96.

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.