Advisors Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 16.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,386 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 7,461 shares during the period. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $6,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 10.6% during the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Welltower by 38.1% during 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 638.0% during the 3rd 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 valued at $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 0.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $776,657,000 after buying an additional 46,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $489,585,000 after buying an additional 117,170 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on WELL shares. Raymond James upped their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

NYSE:WELL opened at $149.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $142.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $134.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.14 billion, a PE ratio of 96.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20.

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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.79%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 171.79%.

Welltower 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.