Southland Equity Partners LLC Acquires 692 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Southland Equity Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,368 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its position in Welltower by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Welltower by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Welltower during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, FSA Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the 3rd quarter valued at about $59,000. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on WELL. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $135.00 target price (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $127.63.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $132.31 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $85.40 and a twelve month high of $140.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $130.15 and its 200-day moving average is $124.95. The company has a quick ratio of 4.10, a current ratio of 4.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $82.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.05, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). The business had revenue of $2.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.03%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.