Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Shares Acquired by Axa S.A.

AXA S.A. lifted its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 372.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 66,800 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 52,671 shares during the period. AXA S.A.'s holdings in Ventas were worth $3,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Presima Securities ULC raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 439,942 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $25,908,000 after purchasing an additional 121,193 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Ventas by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 39,760 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,341,000 after buying an additional 12,969 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 726.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 4,630 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ventas by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,028,015 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $296,100,000 after acquiring an additional 123,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ventas by 2.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,767,261,000 after buying an additional 599,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR traded up $0.38 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $65.96. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,713,033 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,704,121. The business's 50-day moving average price is $67.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a market cap of $28.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 347.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. Ventas, Inc. has a 12 month low of $46.66 and a 12 month high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ventas's revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. 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 yield of 2.91%. Ventas's payout ratio is 581.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Wedbush lifted their target price on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 $75,661,697.80. The trade was a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 313,888 shares of company stock worth $21,536,515. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.