Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Takes Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 41,187 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $2,426,000.

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

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at $80,098,153. This trade represents a 0.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. This represents 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 worth $20,934,891 in the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on VTR shares. Argus set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W raised shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Ventas Trading Up 0.7 %

Ventas stock opened at $68.66 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $67.57 and its 200-day moving average is $63.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.64 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The company has a market cap of $30.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 361.37, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.