Appleton Partners Inc. MA Has $12.51 Million Stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Appleton Partners Inc. MA grew its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 212.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,630 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 55,511 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Welltower were worth $12,507,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in WELL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,943,892,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 53.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,430,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,495,000 after buying an additional 2,939,229 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $12,388,151,000 after buying an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 23,204.3% in the fourth quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,183,000 after buying an additional 1,891,847 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 17,343.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,738,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $266,287,000 after buying an additional 1,728,088 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $163.25.

Welltower Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $151.70 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $149.79 and a 200-day moving average of $142.82. The company has a market capitalization of $99.20 billion, a PE ratio of 87.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 4.23 and a current ratio of 4.23. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.13 and a 52-week high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 12.65% and a return on equity of 3.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.77%. Welltower’s payout ratio is 154.02%.

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.