Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Welltower (NYSE:WELL) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

WELL has been the topic of several other research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Welltower from $204.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. UBS Group set a $240.00 price objective on Welltower in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Welltower from $170.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $231.00 target price on shares of Welltower in a report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, National Bank Financial set a $246.00 price target on shares of Welltower in a report on Friday, October 17th. One equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Welltower presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.21.

Welltower Stock Up 1.2%

NYSE:WELL opened at $210.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 3.46 and a quick ratio of 3.46. Welltower has a 1-year low of $130.29 and a 1-year high of $212.62. The company has a 50-day moving average of $189.69 and a 200 day moving average of $182.04. The firm has a market cap of $147.02 billion, a PE ratio of 150.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 0.85.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.45 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.44 by $0.01. Welltower had a net margin of 8.64% and a return on equity of 2.46%. The business had revenue of $3.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 41.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.090-6.25 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Welltower will post 4.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is 211.43%.

Institutional Trading of Welltower

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,421,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,154,349,000 after buying an additional 2,643,088 shares during the period. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Welltower by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 47,431,769 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,805,411,000 after acquiring an additional 915,514 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Welltower by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 41,760,328 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $7,751,134,000 after acquiring an additional 506,374 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Welltower during the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,903,554,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Welltower by 1.9% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 19,378,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,452,102,000 after purchasing an additional 367,463 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Welltower Company Profile

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.