Aew Capital Management L P Acquires 401,785 Shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Aew Capital Management L P lifted its holdings in shares of Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 52.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,174,880 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 401,785 shares during the quarter. Welltower comprises about 3.9% of Aew Capital Management L P’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Aew Capital Management L P’s holdings in Welltower were worth $105,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in Welltower by 1,412.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 594,677 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $54,062,000 after acquiring an additional 555,353 shares during the period. Harbour Trust & Investment Management Co purchased a new stake in Welltower during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,409,000. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 55.0% during the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,108 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 27.3% during the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 447,303 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $36,643,000 after acquiring an additional 96,046 shares during the period. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Welltower by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 168,106 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,158,000 after purchasing an additional 61,324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Welltower from $97.00 to $96.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Monday, March 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $104.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho boosted their price target on Welltower from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 3rd. StockNews.com cut Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft initiated coverage on Welltower in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $115.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.57.

Welltower Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE WELL traded up $0.34 on Friday, hitting $94.34. 1,796,775 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,541,948. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $92.06 and a 200 day moving average of $89.40. Welltower Inc. has a twelve month low of $72.47 and a twelve month high of $94.99. The company has a market capitalization of $55.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 147.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 3.22, a quick ratio of 3.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.94 by ($0.79). Welltower had a net margin of 5.12% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The firm had revenue of $1.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.83 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Welltower Inc. will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 23rd were paid a dividend of $0.61 per share. This represents a $2.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 22nd. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 381.26%.

Welltower Profile

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.