Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) have been given an average rating of “Buy” by the nine brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $63.63.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on VTR shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ventas from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th.

Ventas Stock Performance

VTR opened at $65.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company has a market cap of $26.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -346.63, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a 52-week low of $40.98 and a 52-week high of $66.08. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $54.31.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.74). The company had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Ventas had a negative net margin of 3.33% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Ventas will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.73%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently -947.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $2,296,125.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $2,296,125.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at $56,529,016.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 3,784 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.24, for a total transaction of $209,028.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 104,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,761,255.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,065 shares of company stock worth $4,526,464. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 11.5% in the first quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $345,667,000 after purchasing an additional 802,546 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,931,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $304,047,000 after purchasing an additional 96,482 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 8.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,489,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $239,000,000 after purchasing an additional 413,564 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Ventas in the second quarter valued at approximately $135,425,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 0.4% in the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,756,752 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $90,051,000 after purchasing an additional 7,585 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

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.