Vontobel Holding Ltd. Decreases Stock Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 24.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,981 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 9,292 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,613,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Welltower by 97.4% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 298 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 479.6% during the 3rd quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 313 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 259 shares in the last quarter. First Capital Advisors Group LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 117.8% in the third quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 342 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Up 1.3 %

WELL stock opened at $90.84 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.69 billion, a PE ratio of 141.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a current ratio of 3.22. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $72.47 and a one year high of $94.63. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $91.76 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $88.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released 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). The business had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.83 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.61 dividend. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 381.26%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on WELL shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 3rd. BNP Paribas began coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

About Welltower

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.