Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 5,310 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Presima Securities ULC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 439,942 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $25,908,000 after purchasing an additional 121,193 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 48.4% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 39,760 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 12,969 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 726.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,028,015 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $296,100,000 after purchasing an additional 123,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:VTR traded down $1.30 on Wednesday, hitting $63.67. The company had a trading volume of 2,787,133 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,740,093. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.66 and a 1-year high of $71.36. The stock has a market cap of $28.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 335.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $66.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Ventas's dividend payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $14,645,401.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. This represents a 15.87% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total transaction of $93,025.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 27,454 shares in the company, valued at $1,750,467.04. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 311,481 shares of company stock worth $21,385,983 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $73.00.

About Ventas

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.