LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Purchases 673 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 5.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,253 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 673 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Welltower by 10.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after buying an additional 1,797,330 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 38.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $776,657,000 after purchasing an additional 46,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,585,000 after purchasing an additional 117,170 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Trading Up 2.2 %

NYSE WELL opened at $156.91 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 100.58, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $136.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $131.87. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $87.87 and a one year high of $157.16.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WELL. Bank of America raised their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James raised their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $145.96.

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.