10,693 Shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Purchased by Centiva Capital LP

Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 10,693 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in VTR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter worth about $340,282,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 60.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,207,553 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $365,563,000 after buying an additional 2,347,705 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 1,489.5% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,456,112 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $85,750,000 after acquiring an additional 1,364,504 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,916,244,000 after acquiring an additional 912,813 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Ventas by 56.0% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,499,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $147,180,000 after purchasing an additional 896,717 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

Ventas Price Performance

Ventas stock opened at $65.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 347.18, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. Ventas, Inc. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.98.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total value of $601,624.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $75,661,697.80. This trade represents a 0.79 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing 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 dated 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 approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 313,888 shares of company stock worth $21,536,515 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.