ING Groep NV Cuts Position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

ING Groep NV reduced its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 25,351 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,840 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in Welltower were worth $3,195,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of WELL. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Fortitude Family Office LLC raised its holdings in shares of Welltower by 37.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in Welltower by 165.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 300 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on WELL shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America raised their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $140.19.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $148.69 on Friday. Welltower Inc. has a 52 week low of $87.87 and a 52 week high of $152.81. 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 has a market cap of $95.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 95.31, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $133.83 and a 200-day moving average of $130.25.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be issued a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 25th. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 171.79%.

About Welltower

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.