Verde Capital Management Boosts Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Verde Capital Management grew its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,883 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. Verde Capital Management’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,022,000 after acquiring an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 38.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $254,977,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after buying an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in Welltower by 29.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $215,659,000 after buying an additional 380,888 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on WELL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $133.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Raymond James increased their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.63.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $132.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.05, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $130.15 and a 200 day moving average of $124.95. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $85.40 and a 52 week high of $140.75. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The company had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

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.