Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Boosts Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,133,172 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after purchasing an additional 335,192 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.46% of Ventas worth $361,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Presima Securities ULC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ventas by 726.8% in the 4th 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 holdings 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 period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Ventas by 2.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This trade represents a 0.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 304,778 shares of company stock worth $20,934,891 in the last ninety days. 0.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ventas Price Performance

NYSE:VTR traded down $4.77 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $65.31. 4,079,597 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,691,735. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $67.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.92. The firm has a market cap of $28.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 343.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $43.64 and a 52 week high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The company's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Ventas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Ventas's payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VTR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush raised their target price on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.90.

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.