Employees Retirement System of Texas Increases Stock Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Employees Retirement System of Texas raised its position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 257,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,500 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas owned approximately 0.06% of Ventas worth $15,188,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 1.2% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 24,161 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,549,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 34.8% in the third quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,974 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,541 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $64,000. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ventas by 6.5% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 175,774 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,193,000 after purchasing an additional 10,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 33,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,134,000 after purchasing an additional 3,524 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on VTR shares. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Wedbush increased their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.90.

Ventas Trading Down 5.8 %

NYSE:VTR opened at $65.55 on Monday. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $71.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 345.01, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share 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 given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. This is a positive change 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%.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097 in the last 90 days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.