Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and two have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $73.00.

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on VTR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Argus set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wedbush upped their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, February 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other Ventas news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total value of $93,025.84. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,454 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,750,467.04. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 69,592 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.59, for a total value of $4,494,947.28. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,874,630.76. This represents a 29.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 165,974 shares of company stock worth $11,025,477. Insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ventas

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ventas in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,282,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 1st quarter worth approximately $359,113,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ventas by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,347,333 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $2,224,203,000 after purchasing an additional 2,811,241 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ventas by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,941,561 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $4,740,422,000 after purchasing an additional 2,440,551 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Ventas by 60.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,207,553 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $365,563,000 after purchasing an additional 2,347,705 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ventas Stock Up 0.2%

VTR traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $64.25. The company had a trading volume of 5,071,918 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,761,980. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $66.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.93. Ventas has a 52 week low of $49.06 and a 52 week high of $71.36. The company has a market capitalization of $29.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 338.18, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ventas will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Ventas's payout ratio is 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.