Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 56,719 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,104,703 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,719 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.18% of Welltower worth $139,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in WELL. Mather Group LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after buying an additional 84 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Welltower stock opened at $150.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The stock has a market cap of $96.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $145.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $135.34. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. On average, research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

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