Allstate Corp Buys Shares of 12,228 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Allstate Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 12,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VTR. DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Ventas by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 77,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,553,000 after purchasing an additional 5,610 shares during the period. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC grew its stake in Ventas by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 11,214 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $660,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in Ventas by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 892,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $52,571,000 after acquiring an additional 64,821 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Ventas by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 675,633 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $39,788,000 after acquiring an additional 36,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Ventas during the fourth quarter valued at about $5,102,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on VTR shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE VTR opened at $68.79 on Tuesday. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.45 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $65.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.28. The company has a market capitalization of $30.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 362.05, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

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, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. Equities analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % 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 currently owned by insiders.

Ventas Company 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.