Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Shares Acquired by Assetmark Inc.

Assetmark Inc. increased its position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 71,361 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,606 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Ventas were worth $4,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VTR. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 862.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,932,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $252,160,000 after buying an additional 3,523,594 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 105.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,420,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $347,605,000 after buying an additional 2,778,408 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,364,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,498,385,000 after buying an additional 982,795 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,767,261,000 after buying an additional 599,600 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,671,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,710,426,000 after purchasing an additional 581,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VTR. Robert W. Baird raised Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Wedbush upped their target price on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Baird R W raised Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ventas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:VTR opened at $67.84 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 357.09, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.45 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $62.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.64.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

About Ventas

Ventas Inc (NYSE: VTR) is a leading S&P 500 real estate investment trust focused on delivering strong, sustainable shareholder returns by enabling exceptional environments that benefit a large and growing aging population. The Company's growth is fueled by its senior housing communities, which provide valuable services to residents and enable them to thrive in supported environments.