Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation, eleven have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $204.80.

WELL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. National Bankshares set a $246.00 price target on shares of Welltower in a report on Friday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Welltower from $232.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of WELL. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in Welltower by 2.6% in the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 416,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $64,058,000 after purchasing an additional 10,584 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 4.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,616,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,090,212,000 after buying an additional 1,740,196 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 193.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 196,453 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,201,000 after buying an additional 129,521 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,888 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,668,000 after acquiring an additional 10,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Welltower during the second quarter valued at $2,326,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:WELL traded up $3.00 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $191.18. 3,239,270 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,765,335. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $192.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $176.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 131.85, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 5.47 and a quick ratio of 5.47. Welltower has a 12-month low of $128.35 and a 12-month high of $209.05.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.30 by $0.04. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.71% and a net margin of 9.69%.The business had revenue of $2.69 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 30.7% on a year-over-year basis. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.240-5.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 11th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.5%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 204.14%.

About Welltower

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.