Arizona State Retirement System Buys 6,781 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 178,218 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,781 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Welltower were worth $22,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 2,053 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,152 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $271,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 3,451 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 3,427 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $432,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Finally, Investment Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Investment Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,889 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Welltower Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $154.95 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.10 and a 200-day moving average of $132.30. The company has a market capitalization of $99.37 billion, a PE ratio of 99.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a current ratio of 4.22. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $87.87 and a 52-week high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. On average, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th will be paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 171.79%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Welltower from $144.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $148.35.

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.