DAVENPORT & Co LLC Makes New Investment in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,014 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Ventas by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 141,642 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $9,739,000 after purchasing an additional 13,631 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,782 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 1,315 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,040 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its position in shares of Ventas by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 82,900 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,700,000 after buying an additional 2,774 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Ventas in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $420,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on VTR. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ventas currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.90.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of the company'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 sale, the director directly owned 27,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,750,467.04. This represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,145,695 shares in the company, 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 121,035 shares of company stock valued at $7,832,135. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Ventas Trading Down 0.4%

VTR opened at $62.75 on Wednesday. Ventas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $51.57 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a current ratio of 0.32 and a quick ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 190.15, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.87. The company's 50 day moving average price is $64.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.13.

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

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date is 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.

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