Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Buys Shares of 1,608 Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 1,608 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 98,295,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $12,388,151,000 after purchasing an additional 2,612,044 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 37,096,408 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,674,826,000 after purchasing an additional 318,496 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 4th quarter worth $3,943,892,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 18,706,788 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,357,617,000 after purchasing an additional 1,652,611 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Welltower by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,782,795 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,989,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,231 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wall Street Zen cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Welltower from $158.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 2nd. Wedbush reissued an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on Welltower from $145.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $163.25.

Welltower Price Performance

WELL stock opened at $150.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 96.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s 50-day moving average is $147.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.98. Welltower Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.13 and a 1 year high of $158.55.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last issued its earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. The business had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.40 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.01 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is presently 154.02%.

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.