Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Plans Dividend Increase – $0.48 Per Share

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 13th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Ventas has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 3.4% per year over the last three years. Ventas has a dividend payout ratio of 315.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Ventas to earn $3.39 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.1%.

Ventas Stock Performance

VTR traded up $4.79 during trading on Thursday, hitting $64.73. The stock had a trading volume of 4,469,793 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,468,782. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. Ventas has a twelve month low of $41.45 and a twelve month high of $67.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -380.75, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.40.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a negative net margin of 1.38% and a negative return on equity of 0.69%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ventas will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VTR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Robert W. Baird raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective on shares of Ventas in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Two investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.71.

About Ventas

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.