Jones Financial Companies Lllp Raises Stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 30.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 48,969 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 11,571 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp’s holdings in Ventas were worth $2,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ventas by 48.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,703 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $158,000 after purchasing an additional 883 shares during the period. Aew Capital Management L P lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 988,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,191,000 after buying an additional 248,340 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 61,304 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,610,000 after buying an additional 1,338 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Ventas by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,866 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,288,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of VTR opened at $70.50 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $61.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $62.51. 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 $41.45 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company has a market cap of $30.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 371.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. As a group, analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on VTR shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W raised Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ventas has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.14.

Insider Activity

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly 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. Insiders have sold a total of 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097 over the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is currently 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.