Ventas (NYSE:VTR) PT Raised to $70.00 at Evercore ISI

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) had its price objective raised by Evercore ISI from $64.00 to $70.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Evercore ISI’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 8.44% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on VTR. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wedbush raised their target price on Ventas from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Ventas from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Ventas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $57.45.

Ventas Stock Performance

NYSE:VTR traded down $0.51 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $64.55. 443,917 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,323,014. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $57.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -340.05, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a 52-week low of $39.33 and a 52-week high of $65.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 0.58 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.19 billion. Ventas had a negative net margin of 3.33% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. Ventas’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ventas will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $2,296,125.91. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 3,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.24, for a total transaction of $209,028.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,761,255.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 77,065 shares of company stock worth $4,526,464 in the last quarter. 1.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ventas

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VTR. Centersquare Investment Management LLC grew its position in Ventas by 11.5% during the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $345,667,000 after purchasing an additional 802,546 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Ventas by 1.7% in the 2nd 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 acquiring an additional 96,482 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Ventas by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,489,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $239,000,000 after acquiring an additional 413,564 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $231,512,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new position in shares of Ventas in the second quarter valued at approximately $135,425,000. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.