Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Buys 13,270 Shares of Ventas, Inc. $VTR

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 264,886 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 13,270 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc.’s holdings in Ventas were worth $16,728,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of VTR. Ethic Inc. lifted its stake in Ventas by 27.9% in the first quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 66,748 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,624,000 after acquiring an additional 14,568 shares during the period. Nicola Wealth Management LTD. bought a new position in Ventas in the 1st quarter worth $1,169,000. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 25.7% in the 1st quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC now owns 376,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $25,921,000 after purchasing an additional 77,066 shares during the period. Investment Management Corp of Ontario boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 1,019.0% during the 2nd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 133,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $8,403,000 after purchasing an additional 121,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 1,042.6% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 386,881 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $24,064,000 after purchasing an additional 353,022 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 317,258 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.24, for a total value of $23,553,233.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,145,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $85,056,396.80. The trade was a 21.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 3,924 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $294,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 112,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,442,300. This represents a 3.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 688,184 shares of company stock worth $50,726,248 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on VTR shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 target price (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Ventas in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Ventas from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Ventas from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Ventas from $80.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $78.40.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of VTR opened at $77.90 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market cap of $36.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 149.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $75.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.35. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $56.68 and a 52 week high of $81.89.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 2.05% and a net margin of 4.28%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.80 EPS. Ventas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.450-3.480 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 31st. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently 369.23%.

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.