Robert F. Probst Sells 3,900 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Stock

Key Points

• CFO Robert F. Probst sold 3,900 shares of Ventas stock for a total of $266,955, reducing his ownership by 2.26% to 168,364 shares valued at approximately $11.5 million.
• Ventas reported an EPS of $0.87 for the last quarter, surpassing expectations, with quarterly revenue reaching $1.42 billion, up 18.3% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.48 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.8%, with a notably high payout ratio of 581.82%.

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) CFO Robert F. Probst sold 3,900 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.45, for a total value of $266,955.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 168,364 shares in the company, valued at $11,524,515.80. The trade was a 2.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Ventas Stock Performance

Ventas stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.51. 838,752 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,120,904. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $55.67 and a 52 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. 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's 50-day simple moving average is $64.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.19.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $1.37 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.80 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Ventas

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VTR. DAVENPORT & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Ventas in the 1st quarter valued at about $276,000. NBC Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the first quarter valued at $65,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Ventas by 40.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 34,773 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,391,000 after buying an additional 10,091 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC purchased a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth about $579,000. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in Ventas during the first quarter worth about $13,321,000. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on VTR. Wall Street Zen cut Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Ventas currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $72.90.

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.