Allstate Corp Takes Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 12,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $720,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $340,282,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ventas by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,916,244,000 after purchasing an additional 912,813 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 2.2% during the third 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. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.2% in 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 period. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in shares of Ventas by 2,210.7% in the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 550,000 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $35,272,000 after buying an additional 526,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:VTR opened at $68.79 on Tuesday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.45 and a 52-week high of $71.04. 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 company has a market capitalization of $30.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 362.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.28.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. 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 2.79%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 41,294 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total value of $2,852,589.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,622,918.44. This represents a 3.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 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 sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on VTR. Mizuho boosted their target price on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Four equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Ventas has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.