97,668 Shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Acquired by Proficio Capital Partners LLC

Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 97,668 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $5,752,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 acquiring an additional 599,600 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in 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 valued at $1,710,426,000 after buying an additional 581,870 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 982,795 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ventas by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,411,293 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $665,559,000 after buying an additional 245,922 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew 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 valued at $347,605,000 after buying an additional 2,778,408 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 analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Argus set a $75.00 target price on Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.20.

Ventas Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE VTR opened at $66.91 on Monday. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $71.04. The firm has a market cap of $29.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 352.19, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $62.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.91.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. 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 2.87%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. This represents 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 sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.