781,809 Shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Acquired by Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 781,809 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $46,041,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio owned approximately 0.18% of Ventas as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTR. Presima Securities ULC lifted its stake in Ventas by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 439,942 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $25,908,000 after buying an additional 121,193 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $2,341,000 after buying an additional 12,969 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in 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 valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 4,630 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $296,100,000 after buying an additional 123,937 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in 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 valued at $1,767,261,000 after buying an additional 599,600 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In related news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total value of $93,025.84. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,750,467.04. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This trade represents a 0.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 166,394 shares of company stock worth $11,235,529. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Ventas stock traded up $0.97 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $65.09. The stock had a trading volume of 3,335,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,759,696. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 342.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. 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, Inc. has a 1 year low of $46.66 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.93.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Ventas's payout ratio is 581.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.