Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Buys Shares of 7,021 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL bought a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,021 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ventas by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ventas during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ventas in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VTR has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com raised Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised 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 research note on Friday, January 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.90.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VTR opened at $67.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.67 billion, a PE ratio of 356.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Ventas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $42.66 and a twelve month high of $71.36. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.59.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $14,645,401.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at $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 304,778 shares of company stock valued at $20,934,891 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.