Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) is Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,986,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,314 shares during the quarter. Welltower accounts for 4.5% of Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $720,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,372 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $522,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 1.6% during the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 7,632 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 2.5% in the first quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC now owns 5,044 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $485,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Dai Ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Welltower by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dai Ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 33,012 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,174,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Finally, Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 0.5% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 25,167 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,062,000 after buying an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL stock traded up $1.39 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.70. 3,175,924 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,577,983. The firm has a market cap of $53.02 billion, a PE ratio of 137.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 1.08. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $91.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.90. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $72.47 and a 1-year high of $94.63. The company has a quick ratio of 3.22, a current ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.79). The company had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. Welltower’s revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.83 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Investors of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 22nd. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 381.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on WELL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They set a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, March 29th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Welltower has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.57.

Welltower Profile

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.