Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $204.80.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WELL. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Welltower in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Welltower from $232.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Welltower from $150.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 23rd. Finally, National Bankshares set a $246.00 price objective on shares of Welltower in a report on Friday, October 17th.

Welltower Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $188.19 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $129.16 billion, a PE ratio of 129.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.86. Welltower has a 52-week low of $126.50 and a 52-week high of $209.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 5.47 and a current ratio of 5.47.

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

Welltower Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, November 11th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 10th. Welltower’s payout ratio is 204.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Welltower

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in Welltower by 2.6% during the second quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 416,674 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $64,058,000 after purchasing an additional 10,584 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Welltower by 4.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 39,616,289 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $6,090,212,000 after buying an additional 1,740,196 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Welltower by 193.5% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 196,453 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $30,201,000 after buying an additional 129,521 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Welltower by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 75,888 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $11,668,000 after buying an additional 10,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,326,000. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.