Handelsbanken Fonder AB Has $19.32 Million Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 214,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 19,459 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Welltower were worth $19,322,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 25.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,925,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,058,848,000 after purchasing an additional 2,596,718 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Welltower by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,757,592 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,615,662,000 after purchasing an additional 2,156,673 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Welltower by 22.9% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,486,611 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $695,223,000 after purchasing an additional 1,581,084 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in Welltower by 1,412.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,062,000 after purchasing an additional 555,353 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in Welltower by 62.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,367,437 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $112,020,000 after purchasing an additional 526,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL stock opened at $91.61 on Tuesday. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $72.47 and a 12-month high of $94.63. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business has a 50 day moving average of $91.91 and a 200-day moving average of $89.17. The firm has a market cap of $54.15 billion, a PE ratio of 143.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.08.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.83 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a $0.61 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 381.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on WELL. KeyCorp raised their target price on Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. BNP Paribas started coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $95.57.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.