Rafferty Asset Management LLC Sells 3,532 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 55,196 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 3,532 shares during the quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $3,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Presima Securities ULC boosted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 38.0% in the fourth quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 439,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,908,000 after buying an additional 121,193 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Ventas by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 39,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 12,969 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Ventas by 726.8% in the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ventas by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,028,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $296,100,000 after purchasing an additional 123,937 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Ventas Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:VTR opened at $65.78 on Monday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52-week low of $46.66 and a 52-week high of $71.36. 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 capitalization of $29.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 346.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.93.

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 company had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 581.82%.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other Ventas news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total value of $93,025.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 27,454 shares in the company, valued at $1,750,467.04. The trade was a 5.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 311,481 shares of company stock worth $21,385,983 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

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.