Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda Purchases Shares of 6,459 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,459 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Ventas by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,916,244,000 after acquiring an additional 912,813 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,767,261,000 after acquiring an additional 599,600 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ventas by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,948,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,207,000 after purchasing an additional 537,253 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Ventas by 60.8% during the 4th 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. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Ventas by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,133,172 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $361,184,000 after purchasing an additional 335,192 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This trade represents a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 304,778 shares of company stock valued at $20,934,891 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Price Performance

NYSE:VTR opened at $69.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 363.81, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.87. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $43.64 and a 1 year high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. Equities analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.48 dividend. This is a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

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.