Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Shares Acquired by Fifth Third Bancorp

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 37.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,460 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,988 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Welltower were worth $12,327,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Welltower by 120.3% in the 4th quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,817,000 after buying an additional 7,872 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in Welltower by 30.7% in the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 544,838 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $68,666,000 after acquiring an additional 128,090 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC raised its holdings in Welltower by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,114,000 after acquiring an additional 285,015 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Welltower in the fourth quarter worth approximately $367,000. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in Welltower by 23,204.3% during the 4th quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 1,900,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891,847 shares in the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on WELL. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Welltower from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $146.00 to $168.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Mizuho upped their price target on Welltower from $141.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $163.25.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL opened at $151.77 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $142.20. The firm has a market cap of $99.25 billion, a PE ratio of 97.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.94. Welltower Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.13 and a 12-month high of $158.55. 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 Monday, April 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.15 by $0.05. Welltower had a net margin of 11.91% and a return on equity of 3.15%. The company had revenue of $2.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.40 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 EPS. Welltower’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th were paid a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 154.02%.

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.