DAVENPORT & Co LLC Acquires Shares of 4,014 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,014 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $276,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ventas by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $3,916,244,000 after purchasing an additional 912,813 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ventas by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,948,546 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $643,207,000 after purchasing an additional 537,253 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Ventas by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,207,553 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $365,563,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,705 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Ventas by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,133,172 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $361,184,000 after purchasing an additional 335,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ventas by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,104,450 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $359,487,000 after purchasing an additional 138,803 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 17,374 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.22, for a total value of $1,133,132.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,980,700.08. The trade was a 9.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Carey S. Roberts sold 23,500 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were 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 approximately $7,492,429.50. The trade was a 16.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 121,035 shares of company stock valued at $7,832,135 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VTR. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Performance

VTR stock traded up $1.48 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $64.76. 4,361,577 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,913,895. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $63.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.23 billion, a PE ratio of 196.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.87. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $52.45 and a 1-year high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. Ventas's payout ratio is 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.