State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Lowers Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury cut its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 215,404 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,147 shares during the quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury’s holdings in Welltower were worth $27,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Welltower by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,674,826,000 after purchasing an additional 318,496 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at $3,943,892,000. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,989,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,558,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,707,570,000 after purchasing an additional 644,494 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Mizuho increased their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Down 2.3 %

Welltower stock opened at $143.84 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 50 day moving average price of $148.26 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.77. Welltower Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $90.76 and a fifty-two week high of $158.55. The company has a market capitalization of $93.72 billion, a PE ratio of 92.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.79%.

Welltower Company Profile

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.