GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Makes New $444,000 Investment in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 7,537 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $444,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in VTR. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $48,000. Finally, State of Wyoming boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 975 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In related news, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 69,592 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.59, for a total value of $4,494,947.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,364 shares in the company, valued at $10,874,630.76. This trade represents a 29.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 41,294 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $2,852,589.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $78,622,918.44. The trade was a 3.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 166,394 shares of company stock valued at $11,235,529. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE VTR traded down $0.71 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.34. 2,889,153 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,766,055. Ventas, Inc. has a 12-month low of $46.66 and a 12-month high of $71.36. The firm has a market cap of $29.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 338.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $66.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The business's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Ventas's payout ratio is 581.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VTR. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $73.00.

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.