Qtron Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 9,673 Ventas, Inc. $VTR

Key Points

• Qtron Investments LLC has made a new investment in Ventas, Inc., purchasing 9,673 shares valued at approximately $665,000 in the first quarter.
• Analysts have varied opinions on Ventas, with price targets ranging from $70.00 to $75.00 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• Recent insider trading includes the sale of 23,500 shares by EVP Carey S. Roberts for around $1.5 million, highlighting a trend of sales among company insiders over the last 90 days.

Qtron Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 9,673 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $665,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VTR. Cloud Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ventas in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Ventas by 1,334.6% during the first quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 373 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Franchise Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth approximately $32,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth approximately $41,000. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on VTR shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ventas from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank upped their price target on Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada increased 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $73.40.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, EVP Carey S. Roberts sold 23,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.23, for a total transaction of $1,509,405.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 116,650 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,492,429.50. This trade represents a 16.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 29,691 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.49, for a total transaction of $2,033,536.59. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,531,250.36. This represents a 14.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 376,932 shares of company stock worth $24,716,734 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR opened at $67.30 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $30.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 156.51, a PEG ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.87. Ventas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.68 and a twelve month high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. Ventas had a return on equity of 1.75% and a net margin of 3.61%. The company 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 earned $0.80 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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.

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