Franklin Resources Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 12.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 341,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 50,247 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Welltower worth $42,978,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG boosted its holdings in Welltower by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 30,582 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,854,000 after buying an additional 2,078 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Welltower by 74.3% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 4,315 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $544,000 after buying an additional 1,839 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,140,397 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $143,724,000 after acquiring an additional 79,444 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Welltower by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 60,613 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,639,000 after purchasing an additional 5,124 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Welltower during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Raymond James increased their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $143.26 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.87 and a 12 month high of $158.55. 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 company has a market cap of $92.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.83, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $147.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $136.29.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Sell-side analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

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.