Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC Takes $306,000 Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Purkiss Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,429 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Welltower by 10.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,392,349,000 after acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Welltower by 38.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,977,845 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 638.0% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $886,022,000 after purchasing an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,066,213 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $776,657,000 after purchasing an additional 46,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Welltower by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,585,000 after purchasing an additional 117,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $153.54 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $153.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $136.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $131.48. The stock has a market cap of $98.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WELL has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday. Wedbush raised Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Welltower from $144.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $132.00 to $147.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $145.96.

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.