Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.67

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, February 11th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th.

Welltower has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.6% annually over the last three years. Welltower has a payout ratio of 119.1% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Welltower to earn $5.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.7%.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $148.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $95.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 95.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $133.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.25. Welltower has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $152.81.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wedbush raised Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Welltower from $142.00 to $144.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. 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 note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $140.19.

About Welltower

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.