Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Stock Position Trimmed by Bank of America Corp DE

Bank of America Corp DE cut its position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,535,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,051,236 shares during the quarter. Bank of America Corp DE’s holdings in Ventas were worth $90,413,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alethea Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $266,000. Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $642,000. AXA S.A. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 372.8% during the 4th quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 66,800 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,934,000 after buying an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP raised its position in shares of Ventas by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. DoubleLine ETF Adviser LP now owns 29,695 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,749,000 after buying an additional 171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its position in shares of Ventas by 135.2% during the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 48,732 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,870,000 after buying an additional 28,013 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 44,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.06, for a total transaction of $3,165,794.06. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,413,086.70. The trade was a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at $716,373. The trade was a 25.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 313,888 shares of company stock valued at $21,536,515. Corporate insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on VTR shares. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Argus set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ventas in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Ventas Stock Performance

Ventas stock opened at $65.96 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $67.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.96. The company has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 347.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Ventas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.66 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 581.82%.

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.