Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Receives $72.90 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $73.00.

VTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VTR opened at $64.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $28.96 billion, a PE ratio of 337.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.96. Ventas has a fifty-two week low of $46.66 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its quarterly 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 during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ventas will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 581.82%.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 313,888 shares of company stock worth $21,536,515. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 3.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,941,561 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,740,422,000 after buying an additional 2,440,551 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 9.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,347,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,224,203,000 after buying an additional 2,811,241 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Ventas by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,948,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $643,207,000 after buying an additional 537,253 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 3.1% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,402,413 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $440,230,000 after acquiring an additional 194,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 3.8% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,338,089 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $435,806,000 after acquiring an additional 233,639 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.