Wells Fargo & Company Upgrades Ventas (NYSE:VTR) to Overweight

Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ventas (NYSE:VTR) from an equal weight rating to an overweight rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has $71.00 target price on the real estate investment trust’s stock, up from their previous target price of $61.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $55.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Wedbush boosted their target price on Ventas from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ventas from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wolfe Research raised Ventas to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Ventas from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $61.11.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of NYSE VTR opened at $62.53 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $25.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -329.09, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a fifty-two week low of $39.33 and a fifty-two week high of $65.64. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.58.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.74). The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. Ventas had a negative return on equity of 1.63% and a negative net margin of 3.33%. Ventas’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ventas will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, October 1st. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently -947.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 3,784 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.24, for a total value of $209,028.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 104,295 shares in the company, valued at $5,761,255.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 3,784 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.24, for a total transaction of $209,028.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 104,295 shares in the company, valued at $5,761,255.80. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.87, for a total value of $1,177,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 156,403 shares in the company, valued at $9,207,444.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,065 shares of company stock worth $4,526,464. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ventas

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Profund Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Ventas by 3.3% in the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 6,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ventas by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 5,292 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Ventas by 1.1% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 24,383 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 258 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in Ventas by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 33,717 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,728,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Ventas by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 70,799 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,083,000 after buying an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

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.