Analysts Set Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Price Target at $72.20

Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $72.90.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Argus set a $75.00 target price on Ventas in a research report on Friday, March 7th.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 41,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $2,852,589.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at $78,622,918.44. The trade was a 3.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ventas by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,916,244,000 after acquiring an additional 912,813 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,671,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,710,426,000 after purchasing an additional 581,870 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ventas by 4.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,364,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,498,385,000 after buying an additional 982,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Ventas by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,948,546 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $643,207,000 after buying an additional 537,253 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR stock opened at $68.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $64.21 and its 200-day moving average is $63.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a PE ratio of 358.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. Ventas has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $71.04.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. Equities research analysts expect that Ventas will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,010.53%.

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.