Stephens Inc. AR Sells 267 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Stephens Inc. AR decreased its stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,903 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 267 shares during the quarter. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Ventas were worth $289,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 862.7% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,932,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $252,160,000 after acquiring an additional 3,523,594 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in Ventas by 105.2% during the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 2,778,408 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 982,795 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,767,261,000 after buying an additional 599,600 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Ventas by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,671,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,710,426,000 after buying an additional 581,870 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VTR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wedbush upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $69.14.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of VTR opened at $66.57 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.59 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.55. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. Ventas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $41.45 and a twelve month high of $67.61. The company has a market cap of $27.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -391.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.37.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a negative return on equity of 0.69% and a negative net margin of 1.38%. As a group, analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business 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 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 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -1,058.76%.

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.