Ventas, Inc. (VTR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 on July 17th

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, May 13th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, July 17th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th.

Ventas has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 3.4% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 1 consecutive years. Ventas has a payout ratio of 246.2% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Ventas to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of VTR opened at $63.72 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.76 billion, a PE ratio of 335.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. Ventas has a one year low of $46.66 and a one year high of $71.36. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $67.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.96.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Ventas will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, 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 transaction of $27,548.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,098,153. The trade was a 0.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 310,022 shares of company stock worth $21,292,957. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VTR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Ventas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

About Ventas

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.