Marshall Wace LLP Decreases Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Marshall Wace LLP trimmed its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 96.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,476 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 823,887 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,967,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in Welltower by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC now owns 2,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $279,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of Welltower by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after purchasing an additional 84 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $147.75 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 50 day simple moving average of $148.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $138.07. The company has a market cap of $96.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $92.73 and a 12-month high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.81%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on WELL shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a report on Thursday, April 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

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.