Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Shares Purchased by Ascent Wealth Partners LLC

Ascent Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 18,393 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 508 shares during the quarter. Ascent Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $1,083,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new stake in Ventas in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Ventas by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Ventas during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 3rd quarter valued at about $64,000. Finally, Roxbury Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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 that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VTR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Ventas from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush upped their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ventas has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $69.14.

Ventas Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE:VTR opened at $66.08 on Friday. 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 cap of $28.88 billion, a PE ratio of 347.79, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. Ventas, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.45 and a 52-week high of $67.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $60.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.93.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,010.53%.

Ventas 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.