Welltower Inc. (WELL) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.74 on August 21st

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 28th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of 0.74 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 12th. This is a 10.4% increase from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67.

Welltower has a payout ratio of 114.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Welltower to earn $5.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.7%.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL opened at $166.00 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 4.23, a current ratio of 4.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. Welltower has a 52-week low of $110.74 and a 52-week high of $167.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $154.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $148.38. The company has a market cap of $108.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 93.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.92.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $2.55 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.49 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.18% and a return on equity of 3.48%. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Welltower

In other Welltower news, Director Andrew Gundlach purchased 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $151.46 per share, with a total value of $3,029,200.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 20,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,029,200. This represents a ? increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Welltower stock. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 31.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,564 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on WELL shares. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.18.

About Welltower

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.