Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Shares Sold by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada cut its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 766,369 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 218,460 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned about 0.18% of Ventas worth $45,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VTR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,916,244,000 after purchasing an additional 912,813 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,948,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $643,207,000 after buying an additional 537,253 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Ventas by 60.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,207,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $365,563,000 after buying an additional 2,347,705 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Ventas by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,133,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $361,184,000 after buying an additional 335,192 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ventas Stock Performance

NYSE:VTR opened at $63.67 on Thursday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.66 and a 52 week high of $71.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $66.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.94. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market cap of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 335.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its 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. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Ventas’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 581.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total transaction of $93,025.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,750,467.04. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total value of $601,624.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $75,661,697.80. This represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 311,481 shares of company stock worth $21,385,983 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VTR. Argus set a $75.00 price objective on Ventas in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.00.

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.