State of Michigan Retirement System Increases Stock Holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 113,905 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Ventas were worth $6,708,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Ventas by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 34,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its stake in Ventas by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank increased its stake in Ventas by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 3,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $195,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Ventas by 66.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $14,645,401.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. This trade represents a 15.87 % 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 worth $17,769,097 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Performance

NYSE:VTR opened at $67.75 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $61.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.55. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $41.45 and a 1-year high of $71.04. 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 firm has a market cap of $29.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 356.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

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

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. 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 1,010.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

VTR has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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 report on Friday, February 28th. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $71.14.

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.