Norges Bank Buys New Shares in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 31,293,282 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $3,943,892,000. Welltower comprises 0.5% of Norges Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Norges Bank owned 0.05% of Welltower as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P increased its position in shares of Welltower by 528.7% in the fourth quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 591 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 30.8% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 31,663 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,990,000 after purchasing an additional 7,463 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 395,744 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $49,876,000 after buying an additional 12,364 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 61,764 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,784,000 after buying an additional 8,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Welltower by 8.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,341,018 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $168,727,000 after buying an additional 107,987 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $149.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $87.87 and a 12-month high of $158.55. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $144.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.23. 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 (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio 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.