Wedbush Securities Inc. Buys 247 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,287 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 247 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of WELL. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 165.5% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $50,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wedbush raised shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

Welltower Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $141.61 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $147.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.71. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $158.55. 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 $91.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 90.78, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.89%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

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.