Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Shares Purchased by Ethic Inc.

Ethic Inc. boosted its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 92.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 52,180 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 25,107 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Ventas were worth $3,073,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTR. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ventas by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ventas by 1,039.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on VTR. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com lowered Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Argus set a $75.00 price objective on Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $73.00.

Ventas Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE VTR opened at $65.96 on Monday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $46.66 and a 52 week high of $71.36. 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 $67.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.96. The firm has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a PE ratio of 347.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 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 business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of Ventas 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 313,888 shares of company stock worth $21,536,515. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company's stock.

Ventas 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.

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