Ventas, Inc. (VTR) – What Are Researchers Thinking About This Stock?

Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $98.33.

VTR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Ventas from $105.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Ventas from $102.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Ventas in a report on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ventas

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas in the second quarter worth about $1,281,000. Andra AP fonden lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 514.0% in the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 127,700 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $11,340,000 after buying an additional 106,902 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 2nd quarter worth about $17,244,000. Adelante Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 2nd quarter worth about $52,737,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 660,428 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $54,010,000 after acquiring an additional 21,378 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Price Performance

VTR opened at $86.48 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $88.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.03. Ventas has a fifty-two week low of $68.15 and a fifty-two week high of $101.60. The firm has a market cap of $44.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.72.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.01. Ventas had a return on equity of 1.99% and a net margin of 4.08%. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ventas will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 30th. Ventas’s payout ratio is 385.19%.

Ventas Company Profile

Ventas, Inc (NYSE: VTR) is a real estate investment trust focused on healthcare and senior housing properties. The company owns, manages and develops a diversified portfolio of healthcare-related real estate, including senior living communities, medical office buildings, life science and innovation centers, and other properties serving healthcare providers and institutions.

Ventas generally leases its properties to healthcare operators, physicians, health systems, universities and research organizations.