Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) to Issue $0.67 Quarterly Dividend

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of 0.67 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, May 22nd. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.76%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 14th.

Welltower has increased its dividend payment by an average of 1.6% per year over the last three years. Welltower has a dividend payout ratio of 114.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Welltower to earn $5.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 49.7%.

Welltower Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:WELL opened at $152.50 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $148.10 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.77. 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 has a 52 week low of $93.72 and a 52 week high of $158.55. The company has a market capitalization of $99.36 billion, a PE ratio of 97.76, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.15 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.40 billion. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Welltower will post 4.88 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

An institutional investor recently raised its position in Welltower stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Welltower were worth $527,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on WELL. Mizuho increased their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Wedbush restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $146.00 to $168.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.46.

Welltower Company 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.