Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on WELL. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Welltower from $107.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Welltower from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. BNP Paribas assumed coverage on shares of Welltower in a research report on Monday, March 18th. They issued an outperform rating and a $104.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Welltower from $96.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a sector outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Welltower Stock Performance

Shares of WELL stock opened at $103.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $62.05 billion, a PE ratio of 128.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.16. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $98.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $93.15. Welltower has a 52 week low of $75.86 and a 52 week high of $105.69. The company has a quick ratio of 3.83, a current ratio of 3.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.50.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by ($0.72). The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.81 billion. Welltower had a return on equity of 1.77% and a net margin of 6.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 13th were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 10th. This represents a $2.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.35%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 301.23%.

Insider Activity at Welltower

In other news, Director Kenneth J. Bacon sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.91, for a total value of $187,038.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,579 shares in the company, valued at $1,514,903.89. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Rise Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Welltower during the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Welltower by 338.7% during the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. raised its position in shares of Welltower by 84.0% in the 4th quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc. now owns 425 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a 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 and infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people's wellness and overall health care experience.