Welltower (NYSE:WELL) Given New $144.00 Price Target at Scotiabank

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) had its price target increased by Scotiabank from $142.00 to $144.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector outperform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective points to a potential upside of 3.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on WELL. Mizuho increased their price target on Welltower from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Welltower from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $135.00 price target (up previously from $134.00) on shares of Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Welltower from $190.00 to $221.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.96.

Welltower Stock Performance

NYSE WELL traded up $2.02 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $138.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 791,391 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,524,341. Welltower has a 12 month low of $85.40 and a 12 month high of $140.75. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $125.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 4.10 and a quick ratio of 4.10. The company has a market cap of $86.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.73 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.04 by ($0.31). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.20% and a net margin of 12.22%. The firm had revenue of $2.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Welltower will post 4.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Welltower

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position in shares of Welltower by 228.4% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 69,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,713,000 after buying an additional 48,000 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Welltower by 151.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 143,698 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $14,981,000 after acquiring an additional 86,602 shares during the period. Creative Planning raised its stake in Welltower by 4.8% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 161,395 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $16,825,000 after acquiring an additional 7,329 shares during the last quarter. Silver Lake Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of Welltower in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Welltower by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 9,641 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 848 shares during the last quarter. 94.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Welltower

Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL), a real estate investment trust (“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 infrastructure needed to scale innovative care delivery models and improve people’s wellness and overall health care experience.