Your broker is the whole route: Welltower stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker WELL, and any brokerage account with NYSE access can buy it once you confirm the listing reads Welltower Inc. The company is a real estate investment trust that drew about 78% of its 2025 revenue from senior housing run by operating partners in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. As a REIT it must pay out at least 90% of its taxable income, and for holders outside the US those payouts follow withholding rules of their own.
What Does Welltower Do?
Welltower owns housing and care property for older adults. Its annual report describes a REIT and S&P 500 company focused on "rental housing for aging seniors across the United States, United Kingdom and Canada," with a portfolio of "2,500+ seniors and wellness housing communities." Founded in 1970, it calls itself "the first REIT to invest exclusively in health care facilities," and it was named Health Care REIT until 2015.
The business reports three segments. Seniors Housing Operating spans wellness housing for people usually aged 55 and over, independent and assisted living, dementia care and UK care homes; 62 operating partners run these communities, and residents' fees count as Welltower's revenue. Triple-net properties are leased to operators, usually for 10 to 20 years, with the tenant paying operating costs, real estate taxes, insurance and maintenance. Outpatient Medical is a smaller set of medical office buildings, about 91% of them affiliated with health systems.
In 2025 Welltower sold 242 outpatient medical properties and added the Barchester and HC-One portfolios in the UK. In April 2026 it acquired 34 Canadian communities operated by Amica Senior Lifestyles.
How Welltower Makes Money
Residents, not tenants, now supply most of the money. In 2025 resident fees and services made up 78% of total revenues and rental income 18%, and total revenues rose 35.6%; the 10-K attributes the jump in resident fees mainly to acquisitions. Segment by segment:
| Segment | How it earns | Share of 2025 revenue | Share of 2025 NOI | Properties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seniors Housing Operating | Resident fees; Welltower bears operating costs | 78% | 57.2% | 1,786 |
| Triple-net | Rent; the operator bears operating costs | 11% | 29.1% | 811 |
| Outpatient Medical | Rent from medical office tenants | 7% | 13.7% | 129 |
Revenue shares do not add to 100% because some income sits outside the segments; the NOI shares and property counts exclude unconsolidated joint ventures.
The gap between those columns is the point. In senior housing Welltower pays staff, food and utilities out of the fees, while a triple-net lease hands those costs to the operator, so a smaller rent line becomes a larger slice of NOI. Geography has moved too: the UK supplied 20.0% of 2025 revenue, up from 10.9% a year earlier, against 73.2% from the US and 6.8% from Canada.
Reading a REIT's numbers. Funds from operations (FFO), as defined by Nareit, takes net income attributable to common stockholders, strips out gains or losses on property sales and impairments of depreciable assets, and adds back depreciation, because "real estate values have historically risen or fallen with market conditions." Net operating income (NOI) is "total revenues, including tenant reimbursements, less property operating expenses"; same-store NOI tracks a fixed pool of properties. Both are non-GAAP supplements, and Welltower still treats net income as its primary earnings measure.
WELL Stock at a Glance
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Exchange | New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) |
| Ticker | WELL |
| Security | Common stock; no other share class is registered |
| Tax status | Real estate investment trust (REIT) |
| Structure | UPREIT: the business runs through Welltower OP LLC |
| Sector | Real estate: senior housing and healthcare property |
| Index membership | S&P 500 |
| Headquarters | Toledo, Ohio |
| Incorporated | Delaware |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year, ending 31 December |
| Dividend policy | Quarterly cash dividend; the one payable in August 2026 was the 221st in a row |
| SEC identifier | CIK 766704 |
Quotes, market value and yield change with every trade; for those, see the Welltower stock page on Bitbase.
How to Buy Welltower Stock
Welltower is a US company, so no depositary receipt is involved: the NYSE share is the common stock. It is also a listed REIT, unlike the non-traded REITs whose shares, in the SEC's words, "are not traded on public stock exchanges." WELL trades like any other stock:
1. Choose a broker with NYSE access, and find out which legal entity will hold your account and which regulator oversees it.
2. Open the account. Non-US individuals file IRS Form W-8BEN, which lets the broker apply any treaty rate.
3. Fund it, comparing the exchange rate as well as the commission.
4. Search WELL, then check the name. "Well" is an everyday English word, so a name search can surface unrelated companies. The result should read Welltower Inc. common stock on the NYSE; WELL/28 and WELL/34 are note guarantees.
5. Pick an order type. A market order's execution price "is not guaranteed," while a limit order buys "at a specific price or better" but "is not guaranteed to execute." Outside the regular session, regular and extended-hours prices can differ.
6. Size it. FINRA notes that fractional-share availability "varies by brokerage firm" and that a fractional owner "might not have shareholder voting rights."
7. Keep the records of your cost and each distribution received.
REIT dividends outside the US. This is general information, not tax advice. The IRS says "most types of U.S. source income received by a foreign person are subject to U.S. tax of 30%," with lower rates possible under a tax treaty. A REIT adds two wrinkles. Welltower's own 10-K notes that under certain treaties the lower dividend rates "do not apply to dividends from a REIT." And under IRS Publication 515, a REIT distribution that comes from gains on US real property is treated as such a gain and "is subject to withholding at 21%," unless the stock is regularly traded on a US market and the holder owned no more than 10% at any time in the year before the payment; then it is taxed as a dividend. Your home country may tax it again; check the treaty with your broker or a tax adviser.
Through a fund, Welltower comes as one holding among many: State Street's October 2026 holdings files for SPY, its S&P 500 trust, and XLRE, its real estate sector fund, both list it. What tracking an index actually buys differs from holding the share.
What Moves WELL Stock
Senior housing occupancy. Average occupancy in the operating segment rose from 84.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 87.4% a year later, and the segment's same-store NOI for the full-year pool grew 21.0% in 2025. The 10-K also warns that a severe cold and flu season "could adversely affect the occupancy" of its properties.
Operators and labour. Partners run the buildings, yet under RIDEA structures Welltower carries the property's operational risks, staff costs included. Care UK, Cogir and Sunrise alone produced 14%, 12% and 10% of segment revenue in 2025.
Interest rates. Growth is funded partly with debt and with new shares sold through at-the-market programs, and the 10-K says elevated rates may lead buyers "to demand a greater annual dividend yield."
Deals and currency. Each large acquisition changes what a share holds, and with more than a quarter of revenue from the UK and Canada, the pound and the Canadian dollar move reported results.
Dividend decisions. In June 2026 the board approved a 15% increase in the quarterly dividend; future payments remain "subject to further review and approval by the Board."
Risks to Weigh Before Buying WELL
From Item 1A, these bear most directly on a WELL share:
Operator control. "Our operators, managers and tenants are ultimately in control of the day-to-day business of the property, including clinical decision-making."
REIT status. Losing it would bring "serious income tax consequences that will substantially reduce the funds available" for debts and distributions.
The payout rule. "The 90% annual distribution requirement will decrease our liquidity and may limit our ability to engage in otherwise beneficial transactions."
Government programs. Senior housing operators typically get no significant government funding, but post-acute care tenants in the triple-net book do, through Medicare, Medicaid and similar programs.
A single stock also ties that money to one company's results, and every dividend is paid at the board's discretion "in accordance with Delaware law."
How to Research WELL Yourself
Welltower files with the SEC under CIK 766704; search by that number, since older filings carry the Health Care REIT name. In the 10-K, Item 1 describes the segments, Item 1A the risks, and the MD&A occupancy, same-store NOI and NOI by operator and region; the non-GAAP section reconciles FFO and NOI, and the taxation section covers non-US holders. The structured cover of the fiscal 2025 report, R1.htm, lists three registered securities, and only one of them, the common stock, uses the plain WELL ticker. For other companies, see the full list of US stock pages on Bitbase.
Welltower Stock FAQ
Is Welltower a REIT?
Yes. It has elected REIT taxation since its first taxable year, and to qualify it must distribute at least 90% of its taxable income, excluding net capital gains. In a qualifying year it generally pays no US federal income tax on the income it distributes; the dividends are taxed in shareholders' hands instead.
Does Welltower pay a dividend?
Yes, every quarter. The dividend payable in August 2026 was its 221st consecutive quarterly cash dividend, and in June 2026 the board approved a 15% increase. Each declaration's per-share amount and dates appear in the company's 8-K and 10-Q filings.
Can I buy Welltower stock with crypto?
Not directly. A broker buys WELL on the NYSE in US dollars, so the crypto has to be sold first and the proceeds moved to the brokerage account, a sale that may itself be taxable where you live. What you then hold is a share with dividend and voting rights; how a share differs from a crypto asset is a separate read.
Was Welltower called Health Care REIT?
Yes. Its fiscal 2015 annual report calls it formerly Health Care REIT, Inc. and still quotes the stock as NYSE:HCN; the ticker WELL appears from the fiscal 2017 report.
Is WELL in the S&P 500?
Yes. Welltower describes itself as an S&P 500 company, and State Street's SPY holdings file dated 16 October 2026 lists it.
Conclusion
Buying WELL takes a broker with NYSE access, a careful look at the name behind the ticker and a market or limit order. Knowing what you own takes longer: a REIT that must pay out most of its taxable income and earns most of its revenue from senior housing run with partners. For holders abroad, withholding is part of the return; read the latest 10-K and 8-Ks before sizing a position in a single company.
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Disclaimer: This article is educational content from Bitbase Academy, provided for information only. It explains what a company or fund does and how the instruments referenced here differ from one another; it does not constitute investment, trading, tax, or financial advice, and it is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement of any security, token, or trading strategy. A tokenized stock is issued by a third party and is designed to give economic exposure to an underlying asset: it is not a share, it carries no shareholder rights, and it depends on the issuer's structure, eligibility rules, and redemption terms, which the issuer can change. Perpetual futures are leveraged derivatives that hold no underlying asset and can be liquidated, and trading hours, product availability, and eligibility differ by instrument and by jurisdiction and can change at any time. Written as of October 2026; verify everything yourself through company filings, the issuer's own documentation, and the product pages of the venue you trade on.
References
[1] Welltower Inc. Form 10-K, fiscal 2025: business, segments, REIT taxation and risk factors (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[2] Welltower Inc. Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 June 2026: Amica acquisition and the 221st consecutive quarterly dividend (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[3] Welltower press release, 1 June 2026: board approves 15% increase in quarterly dividend (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1) www.sec.gov
[4] Welltower Inc. Form 10-K, fiscal 2015: formerly Health Care REIT, founded in 1970, stock quoted as NYSE:HCN (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[5] Welltower Inc. Form 10-K, fiscal 2017: stock quoted as NYSE:WELL (SEC EDGAR) www.sec.gov
[6] IRS: NRA Withholding www.irs.gov
[7] IRS Publication 515 (2026): Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities www.irs.gov
[8] SEC Investor Bulletin: Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) www.sec.gov
[9] SEC Investor Bulletin: Trading Basics, the different ways to buy and sell stock www.sec.gov
[10] FINRA: Investing in Fractional Shares www.finra.org
[11] State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): fund page and daily holdings www.ssga.com
[12] State Street Real Estate Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLRE): fund page and daily holdings www.ssga.com
