Wells Fargo analyst Todd Stender upgraded Welltower to Outperform from Market Perform and raised his price target on the shares to $79 from $68. For some time, dilutive asset sales from the company's efforts to reduce tenant concentration and exposure to Genesis Healthcare kept him at bay with his more neutral rating. Now, with much of those initiatives in the rearview mirror and external growth very much back to Welltower's old pace, the analyst views the shares as warranting his highest rating as the company's cost of equity has improved throughout 2018, thus potentially providing it with the fuel to be acquisitive during this period of senior housing and skilled nursing operator dislocation, which could present incremental healthcare real estate acquisition opportunities.