Ventas (NYSE:VTR) Sets New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $80.67 and last traded at $80.4440, with a volume of 28599 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $80.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on VTR. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $77.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 26th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Ventas in a research report on Friday, September 19th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Ventas from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $77.93.

Ventas Trading Up 0.5%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a current ratio of 0.68. The firm has a market cap of $37.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 154.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.88.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. Ventas had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 2.10%. The business had revenue of $1.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.80 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Ventas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.450-3.480 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently 369.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 41,294 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.01, for a total transaction of $3,262,638.94. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,145,695 shares in the company, valued at $90,521,361.95. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 2,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.08, for a total transaction of $178,498.32. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 106,488 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,527,559.04. This represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 698,912 shares of company stock valued at $51,454,499 in the last three months. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in VTR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Ventas during the second quarter worth approximately $344,740,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Ventas during the 1st quarter valued at $359,113,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Ventas by 4.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,796,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $4,533,937,000 after buying an additional 2,854,751 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Ventas by 9.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 2,811,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 142.4% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,507,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $245,514,000 after acquiring an additional 2,060,770 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.