Advisors Preferred LLC Makes New Investment in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Advisors Preferred LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 41,931 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $2,905,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTR. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in Ventas by 1.9% during the first quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 164,819 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $11,400,000 after buying an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter. B&I Capital AG increased its position in Ventas by 54.4% during the first quarter. B&I Capital AG now owns 142,850 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,822,000 after buying an additional 50,350 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth $41,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth $477,000. Finally, Choreo LLC increased its position in Ventas by 13.0% during the first quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 10,120 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $701,000 after buying an additional 1,166 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total value of $93,025.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 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 hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 168,318 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total transaction of $11,001,264.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares in the company, valued at $11,004,271.04. This represents a 49.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 343,588 shares of company stock valued at $22,415,190 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VTR traded down $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $66.48. 1,926,910 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,121,289. The company has a market cap of $30.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 201.45, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.87. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $64.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. Ventas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $53.09 and a twelve month high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 1.36%. The company's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. Ventas's dividend payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Ventas 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.