Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Invests $13.68 Million in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 232,224 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $13,676,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VTR. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ventas by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in Ventas in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ventas during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% during the fourth quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $14,645,401.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $77,644,115.46. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on VTR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.90.

Ventas Trading Down 5.8 %

NYSE VTR opened at $65.55 on Monday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.45 and a 52 week high of $71.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a PE ratio of 345.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. As a group, research analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

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.