Summit Financial LLC Purchases 1,839 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 74.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,315 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 1,839 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Welltower by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,612,044 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Welltower during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,943,892,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Welltower by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 18,685,844 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,392,349,000 after purchasing an additional 1,797,330 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Welltower by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,884,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $489,585,000 after buying an additional 117,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 3,773,827 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $477,314,000 after buying an additional 589,255 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $153.03 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $147.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $136.08. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $158.55. 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 company has a market cap of $98.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 98.10, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 171.79%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on WELL shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Raymond James lifted their price target on Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $156.46.

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.