Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC Takes $27.87 Million Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 221,098 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $27,865,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Roxbury Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. First Command Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $68,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “equal weight” rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $161.83.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $151.14 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 96.88, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50 day moving average is $147.61 and its 200 day moving average is $140.46. The company has a quick ratio of 4.22, a current ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $99.77 and a 52-week high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. Welltower’s revenue was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.01 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.77%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 154.02%.

Welltower 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.