Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Stock Holdings Increased by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 116.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 127,874 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 68,843 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $7,530,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Presima Securities ULC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 38.0% during the 4th quarter. Presima Securities ULC now owns 439,942 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,908,000 after acquiring an additional 121,193 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ventas by 726.8% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $310,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,028,015 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $296,100,000 after purchasing an additional 123,937 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 48.4% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 39,760 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,341,000 after purchasing an additional 12,969 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 599,600 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at $80,098,153. This trade represents a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $65.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $71.04. The stock has a market cap of $30.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 364.75, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. Analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. 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. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.90.

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.