Ventas (NYSE:VTR) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Wedbush

Ventas (NYSE:VTR)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,RTT News reports. They presently have a $75.00 price objective on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 20.71% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on VTR. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ventas from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ventas to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.13.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR stock opened at $62.13 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.36. The stock has a market cap of $26.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -365.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $67.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 6,004 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.11, for a total value of $396,924.44. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,231,860.87. This trade represents a 0.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $389,940.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,900,767.05. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,252 shares of company stock valued at $8,809,845 over the last ninety days. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ventas by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,364,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,498,385,000 after purchasing an additional 982,795 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ventas by 2.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,411,293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $665,559,000 after buying an additional 245,922 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Ventas by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,931,538 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $304,047,000 after buying an additional 96,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Ventas by 105.2% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,420,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $347,605,000 after buying an additional 2,778,408 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

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.