Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Purchases 1,000 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 24,750 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,119,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WELL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Trading Up 1.1 %

WELL opened at $147.17 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $89.38 and a twelve month high of $158.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $137.36.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.