Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $1.50 Billion Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,908,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 266,153 shares during the period. Welltower accounts for 0.8% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,500,871,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% during the third 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 grew its holdings in Welltower by 29.2% during 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 grew its holdings in Welltower by 20.1% during 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 grew its holdings in Welltower by 28.1% during 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. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WELL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.58.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE WELL opened at $150.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 4.10, a quick ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $131.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $128.94. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $151.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 1.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 12.22% and a return on equity of 3.20%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 176.32%.

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.