Wall Street Zen Downgrades Welltower (NYSE:WELL) to Sell

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

WELL has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Welltower from $203.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $231.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, December 15th. Loop Capital set a $196.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Welltower from $200.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.80.

Welltower Price Performance

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $186.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $189.43 and a 200 day moving average of $172.09. Welltower has a 12 month low of $123.11 and a 12 month high of $209.05. The firm has a market cap of $127.82 billion, a PE ratio of 128.44, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a current ratio of 5.47, a quick ratio of 5.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.70 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 2.71% and a net margin of 9.69%.The company’s revenue was up 30.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Welltower has set its FY 2025 guidance at 5.240-5.300 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WELL. Norges Bank bought a new position in Welltower in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,903,554,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 4.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,778,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $15,993,121,000 after purchasing an additional 3,991,896 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Welltower by 167.2% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,247,262 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $756,607,000 after purchasing an additional 2,657,766 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Welltower by 4.1% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 46,516,255 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,285,296,000 after purchasing an additional 1,842,934 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Welltower by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,616,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,090,212,000 after purchasing an additional 1,740,196 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE: WELL) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires and manages real estate serving the health care industry. The company specializes in healthcare infrastructure, owning and operating a diversified portfolio of senior housing, post-acute and long-term care communities, and outpatient medical properties. Welltower’s assets are designed to support the delivery of health care services through a combination of leased properties, joint ventures, and other capital arrangements with health care operators and providers.

The company’s property types include assisted living, memory care, independent living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as medical office buildings and other outpatient-care real estate such as ambulatory surgery centers and specialty clinics.