Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Invests $807,000 in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 13,700 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $807,000.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Ventas by 18.4% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,952 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Ventas by 11.7% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 12,712 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 11.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,252,460 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $80,070,000 after purchasing an additional 128,945 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 12.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,299 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $489,000 after buying an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Baird R W raised Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised Ventas from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at $77,644,115.46. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 313,888 shares of company stock worth $21,536,515 in the last 90 days. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Price Performance

Ventas stock traded down $0.74 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $65.88. The stock had a trading volume of 3,261,924 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,699,454. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The firm's 50 day moving average is $67.59 and its 200 day moving average is $63.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 346.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $46.53 and a one year high of $71.36.

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, topping 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 firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Ventas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Ventas's payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Ventas Company 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.