Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $73.00.

VTR has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of 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 research note on Friday, January 17th.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total transaction of $601,624.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,661,697.80. The trade was a 0.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,888 shares of company stock valued at $21,536,515 over the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ventas

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VTR. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. boosted its stake in Ventas by 1.9% during the first quarter. 1834 Investment Advisors Co. now owns 14,481 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $996,000 after buying an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Ventas by 4.7% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,266,301 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $362,111,000 after buying an additional 238,286 shares in the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in Ventas during the first quarter worth $4,434,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ventas by 3.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,941,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,740,422,000 after buying an additional 2,440,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natural Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas during the first quarter worth $213,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Performance

VTR stock opened at $65.96 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 347.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.96. Ventas has a 52 week low of $46.66 and a 52 week high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Ventas will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company 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 a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 581.82%.

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.