Welltower Inc. $WELL Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Welltower Inc. (NYSE:WELL) by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 9,814,621 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 207,966 shares during the period. Welltower makes up about 1.1% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Welltower were worth $2,227,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Welltower during the fourth quarter worth $5,466,264,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Welltower by 955.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 9,513,540 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,765,808,000 after purchasing an additional 8,612,016 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Welltower by 153.0% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 10,744,520 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,994,290,000 after purchasing an additional 6,497,258 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Welltower by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 92,421,471 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $17,154,349,000 after purchasing an additional 2,643,088 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Welltower by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,826,035 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,123,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,734,922 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on WELL shares. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Welltower from $240.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Welltower from $249.00 to $271.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Welltower in a research report on Tuesday, June 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $226.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Welltower from $238.00 to $260.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Welltower from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $246.11.

Welltower Stock Performance

WELL opened at $235.55 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $229.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $214.01. Welltower Inc. has a 52-week low of $161.26 and a 52-week high of $255.20. The company has a market cap of $169.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 108.05, a PEG ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 3.16, a current ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Welltower (NYSE:WELL) last released its earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.61 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.66 by ($0.05). Welltower had a return on equity of 3.56% and a net margin of 12.15%.The company had revenue of $3.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. Welltower has set its FY 2026 guidance at 6.360-6.440 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Welltower Inc. will post 6.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Welltower Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 12th will be paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 12th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. This is a boost from Welltower’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Welltower’s dividend payout ratio is currently 155.96%.

Welltower 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.