Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $107.31 Million Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,560,696 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after buying an additional 136,751 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.36% of Ventas worth $107,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas during the fourth quarter valued at $5,752,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 29,448 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,734,000 after buying an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC now owns 92,882 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $5,470,000 after buying an additional 2,007 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $307,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE increased its holdings in Ventas by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 21,866 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,288,000 after buying an additional 1,056 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on VTR shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. 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. Wall Street Zen lowered Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of Ventas stock traded up $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.28. The company's stock had a trading volume of 682,151 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,876,717. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $50.38 and a one year high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $28.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 191.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.89. The business's fifty day moving average price is $64.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.00.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.02. Ventas had a return on equity of 1.36% and a net margin of 2.80%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The company's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Ventas's payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total transaction of $601,624.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,145,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,661,697.80. The trade was a 0.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 17,374 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.22, for a total transaction of $1,133,132.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 168,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,980,700.08. The trade was a 9.35% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 165,586 shares of company stock valued at $10,997,929 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Ventas Profile

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.