Debra A. Cafaro Sells 10,322 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Stock

Key Points

• Debra A. Cafaro, the CEO of Ventas, Inc., sold $695,702.80 worth of stock, reducing her ownership by 0.89%, but still retains over 1.14 million shares valued at approximately $77.2 million.
• Ventas reported earnings of $0.87 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations of $0.85, with revenue reaching $1.42 billion, up 18.3% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, with an annualized yield of 2.8%, although its payout ratio stands at 581.82%.

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 10,322 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.40, for a total transaction of $695,702.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,145,695 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $77,219,843. This trade represents a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ventas Stock Performance

NYSE VTR traded up $0.23 on Tuesday, reaching $68.51. 838,752 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,120,904. The firm has a market cap of $30.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 159.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $64.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.19. Ventas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $55.67 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last posted 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 net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 1.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.80 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Ventas's dividend payout ratio is presently 446.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ventas

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 226,381 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $13,332,000 after acquiring an additional 11,767 shares during the last quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC increased its stake in Ventas by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,214 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares during the period. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ventas by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 6,546 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Ventas by 17.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,335,585 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $78,653,000 after buying an additional 198,974 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ventas by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,335,843 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $78,668,000 after buying an additional 83,383 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on VTR. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.