American Assets Investment Management LLC Acquires Shares of 118,075 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Key Points

• American Assets Investment Management LLC acquired 118,075 shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in Q1, valuing the investment at approximately $8.12 million.
• Ventas executives, including EVP Carey S. Roberts and CFO Robert F. Probst, sold significant portions of their shares, with total insider sales amounting to about $22.78 million over the last quarter.
• Analysts are bullish on Ventas, with several upgrades and an average price target of $72.90, indicating potential growth for the stock.

American Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 118,075 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $8,119,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VTR. Allianz SE raised its position in shares of Ventas by 12.2% in the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 25,352 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,743,000 after acquiring an additional 2,764 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Ventas by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 12,597 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $866,000 after acquiring an additional 1,730 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Ventas in the 1st quarter worth $124,000. Manchester Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ventas by 37.5% in the 1st quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 883 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banco Santander S.A. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 699.9% in the 1st quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 145,106 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,977,000 after acquiring an additional 126,965 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on VTR. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:VTR traded up $0.24 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $68.74. The stock had a trading volume of 2,328,649 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,818,484. The company has a market capitalization of $31.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.87. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $56.68 and a 1-year high of $71.36. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $64.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.68 and a quick ratio of 0.68.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 1.75% and a net margin of 3.61%. Ventas's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. Ventas's payout ratio is presently 446.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares in the company, valued at $11,004,271.04. The trade was a 49.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Carey S. Roberts sold 23,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.23, for a total transaction of $1,509,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 116,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,492,429.50. This represents a 16.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 378,391 shares of company stock worth $24,809,760. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

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.