Russell Investments Group Ltd. Raises Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,944,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 511,144 shares during the period. Welltower comprises 0.6% of Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.71% of Welltower worth $356,043,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 6.8% in the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,096 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,542 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in Welltower by 54.1% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 90,664 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,427,000 after buying an additional 31,812 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in Welltower by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 194,830 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,960,000 after buying an additional 919 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 2,083.3% during the 3rd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 524 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp increased their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on Welltower in a report on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 target price on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL traded up $0.34 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $94.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,857,213 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,134,148. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.47 and a fifty-two week high of $94.99. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.76 billion, a PE ratio of 147.41, a PEG ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $89.40.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The business had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were given a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 381.26%.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.