PGGM Investments Grows Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

PGGM Investments increased its holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 207.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,185 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,201 shares during the period. PGGM Investments’ holdings in Ventas were worth $541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ grew its position in shares of Ventas by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 81,505 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,769,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd grew its position in shares of Ventas by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,483,586 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $87,375,000 after purchasing an additional 33,670 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc grew its position in shares of Ventas by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 106,468 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,270,000 after purchasing an additional 21,721 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas in the fourth quarter valued at $8,335,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ventas by 726.8% in the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,267 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $310,000 after purchasing an additional 4,630 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of Ventas 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $80,098,153. The trade was a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

VTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report 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 report on Tuesday, February 25th. Argus set a $75.00 target price on Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.20.

Ventas Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of VTR opened at $66.91 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $62.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $62.88. The stock has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a PE ratio of 352.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. Ventas, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.45 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. 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. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

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.