Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases 6,104 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Financial Counselors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 146.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,272 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 6,104 shares during the quarter. Financial Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $1,295,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at about $962,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its position in shares of Welltower by 44.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 402,688 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $50,751,000 after buying an additional 123,228 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 6.3% in the fourth quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 56,212 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $7,084,000 after buying an additional 3,327 shares in the last quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Welltower by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 7,999 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,008,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Welltower by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $228,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WELL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Welltower from $144.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Welltower from $140.00 to $158.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $156.46.

Welltower Price Performance

Welltower stock opened at $150.24 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $145.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.34. Welltower Inc. has a 12 month low of $87.87 and a 12 month high of $158.55. The company has a market capitalization of $96.35 billion, a PE ratio of 96.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 4.22, a quick ratio of 4.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48.

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

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.78%. 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.