LPL Financial LLC Increases Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 5.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 226,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,767 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.05% of Ventas worth $13,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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 grew its position in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 581,870 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment increased its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2,210.7% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 550,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,272,000 after acquiring an additional 526,198 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in Ventas by 779.5% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 385,324 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $22,692,000 after purchasing an additional 341,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aew Capital Management L P lifted its stake in Ventas by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. Aew Capital Management L P now owns 988,126 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $58,191,000 after purchasing an additional 248,340 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VTR has been the topic of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.90.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of VTR opened at $69.39 on Thursday. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $71.04. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $65.59 and its 200-day moving average is $63.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 365.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 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 anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders 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 2.77%. This is an increase 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 is 1,010.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas 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.