First Trust Advisors LP Purchases 116,978 Shares of Ventas, Inc. $VTR

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 27.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 538,773 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 116,978 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Ventas were worth $44,061,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Ventas by 4.0% during the first quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,329 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 6,790 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $525,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the period. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,415 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $343,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New grew its position in shares of Ventas by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New now owns 4,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ventas by 1.2% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 12,894 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,054,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on VTR. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Ventas from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Ventas from $95.00 to $88.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $91.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ventas in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,152 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.20, for a total value of $103,910.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 28,349 shares in the company, valued at $2,557,079.80. The trade was a 3.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Michael J. Embler bought 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 3rd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $78.81 per share, for a total transaction of $197,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,513,309.62. This represents a 14.97% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Ventas Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of VTR stock opened at $100.12 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 182.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.70. Ventas, Inc. has a 12-month low of $65.15 and a 12-month high of $100.98. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $88.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.08.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 27th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.12 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 4.25% and a return on equity of 2.09%. Ventas’s quarterly revenue was up 22.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, June 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 378.18%.

Ventas Profile

Ventas, Inc (NYSE: VTR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in healthcare-related real estate. The company acquires, owns and manages a diversified portfolio of properties serving the healthcare continuum, including senior housing communities, skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings, life science and research centers, and other properties leased to healthcare providers and operators. Ventas generates revenue through long-term leases, property management and selective development activities focused on meeting the real estate needs of the healthcare sector.

Ventas’ business model combines property ownership with active asset management and capital markets activity.