Healthcare REIT Welltower rose 1.6% Thursday after JPMorgan analyst Michael Mueller upgraded it to overweight from neutral and set a $260 price target, about 11% above the day’s close. The S&P 500 was essentially unchanged.
Mueller made the change before Thursday’s market open as part of a broader review of J.P. Morgan’s REIT coverage. He cited Welltower’s net operating income growth and said the company could see several years of better-than-average growth.
The article put Welltower’s dividend yield at 1.5%, below the high yields common among REITs. Its author praised the company’s senior-housing operations but said other REITs offered more lucrative opportunities.
