Franklin Resources Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL)

Franklin Resources Inc. reduced its position in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 341,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 50,247 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $42,978,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of Welltower by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 470,419 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $60,228,000 after purchasing an additional 16,946 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in Welltower by 120.3% during the fourth quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 14,417 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,817,000 after acquiring an additional 7,872 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Welltower by 29.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,684,446 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $215,659,000 after purchasing an additional 380,888 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 20.1% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 13,456 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,696,000 after buying an additional 2,250 shares during the period. Finally, Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC grew its holdings in Welltower by 17.3% in the fourth quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 1,936,954 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $244,114,000 after purchasing an additional 285,015 shares during the period. 94.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wedbush upgraded Welltower from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $145.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Welltower from $165.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Welltower from $221.00 to $242.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Raymond James upped their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Welltower from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $132.00 to $147.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.46.

Welltower Stock Down 6.0 %

Shares of Welltower stock opened at $143.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $92.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.83, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.93. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $147.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $136.29. Welltower Inc. has a 1-year low of $87.87 and a 1-year high of $158.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 4.22 and a quick ratio of 4.22.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The real estate investment trust reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.73. Welltower had a return on equity of 3.15% and a net margin of 11.91%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Welltower Inc. will post 4.88 EPS for the current year.

Welltower Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 25th were issued a $0.67 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 25th. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Welltower’s payout ratio is currently 171.79%.

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.