Simon Quick Advisors LLC Has $427,000 Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Simon Quick Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 26.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,784 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 589 shares during the quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $427,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Welltower by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,674,826,000 after purchasing an additional 318,496 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter worth about $3,943,892,000. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Welltower by 9.7% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,357,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652,611 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in Welltower by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,989,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,231 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $152.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.54 billion, a PE ratio of 97.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $148.67 and its 200 day moving average is $142.30. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.13 and a 1 year 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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The firm’s revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 154.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $163.25.

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.