Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 912,813 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 912,813 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.16% of Ventas worth $3,916,244,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of VTR. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted 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. FMR LLC lifted its position in Ventas by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,364,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,498,385,000 after acquiring an additional 982,795 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ventas by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Ventas by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,671,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,710,426,000 after purchasing an additional 581,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 2,210.7% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 550,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,272,000 after purchasing an additional 526,198 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VTR has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ventas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of VTR stock opened at $68.18 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $64.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.15. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $71.04. The stock has a market cap of $29.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 358.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently 1,010.53%.

Ventas Company Profile

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.