Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Cuts Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 4,290 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 638.0% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,920,426 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $886,022,000 after acquiring an additional 5,982,711 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 38.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,428,564 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,847,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,977,845 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Welltower by 10.6% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 1,797,330 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Welltower in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $90,565,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Welltower by 31,188.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 510,002 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,276,000 after acquiring an additional 508,372 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wedbush upgraded shares of Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Welltower currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $148.42.

Welltower Trading Down 1.2 %

NYSE WELL opened at $147.22 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $94.41 billion, a PE ratio of 94.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a fifty day moving average of $138.99 and a 200 day moving average of $132.75. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $87.87 and a 1 year high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its earnings results 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%. Research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were given a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio 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.