Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Makes New Investment in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Key Points

• Mizuho Markets Americas LLC has invested approximately $27.50 million in Ventas, Inc., acquiring 400,000 shares of the real estate investment trust.
• Multiple analysts have raised their price targets for Ventas, with consensus ratings indicating a "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.90.
• Ventas has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.48, representing a 2.8% yield, alongside significant insider sales of over $24 million worth of shares.

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 400,000 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $27,504,000. Mizuho Markets Americas LLC owned approximately 0.09% of Ventas as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Ventas by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,347,333 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,224,203,000 after buying an additional 2,811,241 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ventas by 3.7% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,941,561 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $4,740,422,000 after buying an additional 2,440,551 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position 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 worth $365,563,000 after buying an additional 2,347,705 shares in the last quarter. Rush Island Management LP lifted its position in Ventas by 130.6% in the 4th quarter. Rush Island Management LP now owns 3,097,830 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $182,431,000 after buying an additional 1,754,494 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Ventas by 1,489.5% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,456,112 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $85,750,000 after buying an additional 1,364,504 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 14,753 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.60, for a total transaction of $967,796.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,145,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at $75,157,592. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 168,318 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total transaction of $11,001,264.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,004,271.04. This represents a 49.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 378,391 shares of company stock valued at $24,809,760 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Ventas Price Performance

VTR stock traded down $0.00 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $68.51. 2,775,794 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,618,675. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $56.68 and a one year high of $71.36. The stock has a market cap of $31.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Ventas had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 1.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.37 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.