Legal & General Group Plc Trims Stock Position in Welltower Inc. $WELL

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,720,996 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 576,313 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,197,278,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Welltower by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,778,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,993,121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,991,896 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,616,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,090,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740,196 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,903,554,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Welltower by 5.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,012,454 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,303,484,000 after buying an additional 723,887 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Welltower by 1.9% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 7,898,391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,214,232,000 after buying an additional 149,724 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of WELL opened at $207.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 3.46, a quick ratio of 3.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $144.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 148.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $195.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $186.50. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.29 and a 12-month high of $216.43.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. Welltower had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 2.46%. The company had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Welltower’s revenue was up 41.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.090-6.25 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 211.43%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on WELL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Mizuho increased their target price on Welltower from $216.00 to $231.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Welltower from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Welltower from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $215.00 to $245.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.71.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.