Legal & General Group Plc Grows Stock Holdings in Ventas, Inc. $VTR

Key Points

• Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Ventas by 7.9% in the fourth quarter, ending with 5.77 million shares valued at about $446.1 million. Institutional investors overall still own a dominant 94.18% of the REIT.
• Ventas reported Q1 earnings of $0.11 per share, slightly below estimates, while revenue came in at $1.65 billion, above expectations and up 22% year over year. The company also reaffirmed a full-year outlook around 3.86 EPS.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.52 per share, equal to an annualized payout of $2.08 and a yield of about 2.4%. Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $95.

Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,765,040 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 420,834 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 1.23% of Ventas worth $446,099,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ventas by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 96,731 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $7,485,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 46.3% in the fourth quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 976 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $76,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its position in shares of Ventas by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 473,258 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $36,621,000 after acquiring an additional 34,329 shares during the period. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the fourth quarter valued at about $505,000. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,291 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $564,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,152 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.20, for a total transaction of $103,910.40. Following the sale, the director owned 28,349 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,557,079.80. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ventas Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of VTR opened at $88.22 on Tuesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $85.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.40, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.76 and a 1-year high of $91.06.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 2.09%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. Ventas has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.820-3.890 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Ventas's payout ratio is presently 378.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho set a $98.00 target price on shares of Ventas in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Ventas in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $85.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Fourteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $95.00.

Ventas Company Profile

Ventas, Inc NYSE: VTR is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in healthcare-related real estate. The company acquires, owns and manages a diversified portfolio of properties serving the healthcare continuum, including senior housing communities, skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings, life science and research centers, and other properties leased to healthcare providers and operators. Ventas generates revenue through long-term leases, property management and selective development activities focused on meeting the real estate needs of the healthcare sector.

Ventas' business model combines property ownership with active asset management and capital markets activity.

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