Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, eight have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $72.90.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $72.00 in a report on Monday, June 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Ventas from $71.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Carey S. Roberts sold 23,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.23, for a total transaction of $1,509,405.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 116,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,429.50. This represents a 16.77% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 168,318 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.36, for a total value of $11,001,264.48. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 168,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,004,271.04. This represents a 49.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 376,932 shares of company stock worth $24,716,734. 0.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,796,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,533,937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854,751 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Ventas by 9.5% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,347,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,224,203,000 after buying an additional 2,811,241 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Ventas by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 27,998,629 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,781,267,000 after buying an additional 1,388,678 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ventas by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,226,283 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $769,061,000 after buying an additional 574,663 shares during the period. Finally, Resolution Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Ventas by 10.5% during the 1st quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 7,889,848 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $542,506,000 after buying an additional 751,587 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Ventas Trading Down 0.6%

Ventas stock opened at $67.60 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $65.06 and a 200 day moving average of $65.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 157.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.87. Ventas has a 12-month low of $56.68 and a 12-month high of $71.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.37 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 3.61% and a return on equity of 1.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ventas will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

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.