Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Stock Has Average Target Price of $259.81 According to Analysts

Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, sixteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $259.81.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on WELL. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $215.00 to $251.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Welltower from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 28th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $256.00 price target (down from $260.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, September 21st. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Welltower from $238.00 to $272.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $269.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a report on Tuesday, October 27th.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 5,000 shares of Welltower stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $242.06 per share, for a total transaction of $1,210,300.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $7,261,800. This trade represents a 20.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Purchased indirectly through two trusts. The transaction was executed in multiple trades at prices ranging from $241.59 to $242.59. The reported $242.06 price is the weighted-average purchase price. 0.37% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 5.5% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 78,049,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,714,830,000 after buying an additional 4,045,458 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 42,138,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $9,564,246,000 after purchasing an additional 578,033 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 6.6% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 21,750,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,300,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,347,243 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,814,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,227,642,000 after buying an additional 207,966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Welltower by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,345,022 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,649,844,000 after buying an additional 57,938 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $247.22 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $234.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $219.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 3.16 and a quick ratio of 3.16. Welltower has a 1-year low of $181.47 and a 1-year high of $255.20. The company has a market cap of $181.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 0.79.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.64 by $0.03. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.61% and a net margin of 12.08%. The company had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.34 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 38.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Welltower will post 6.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 19th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 10th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, November 10th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 147.19%.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc is a real estate investment trust focused on properties and services that support health care and aging. Its portfolio includes senior housing communities, outpatient medical facilities and post-acute care properties.

The company works with senior housing operators, health care providers and other partners to own, lease and manage properties. Its operations span the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Founded in 1970 as Health Care REIT, the company adopted the Welltower name in 2015.