Sandy Spring Bank Buys 1,161 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Sandy Spring Bank boosted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,512 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,081,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in Welltower by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 262,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $33,021,000 after purchasing an additional 16,214 shares during the period. Stokes Family Office LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $553,000. Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $638,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its position in Welltower by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 90,087 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,354,000 after purchasing an additional 6,946 shares during the period. Finally, Generali Asset Management SPA SGR bought a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,078,000. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE WELL opened at $147.77 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $143.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $134.44. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.72, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. Welltower Inc. has a one year low of $87.87 and a one year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. Sell-side analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.81%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Raymond James increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. StockNews.com raised Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

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.