Park Avenue Securities LLC Purchases 9,369 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 87.6% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,061 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,369 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $1,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedmont Private Capital bought a new stake in Ventas during the 1st quarter valued at $258,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 3,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $210,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 1st quarter worth $879,000. First Affirmative Financial Network purchased a new position in Ventas in the first quarter valued at about $208,000. Finally, Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Ventas by 0.5% in the first quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC now owns 96,296 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,621,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, EVP Carey S. Roberts sold 23,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.23, for a total transaction of $1,509,405.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 116,650 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,492,429.50. This trade represents a 16.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 1,459 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.76, for a total transaction of $93,025.84. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,454 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,750,467.04. This trade represents a 5.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 165,586 shares of company stock valued at $10,997,929. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ventas Trading Down 0.1%

Ventas stock opened at $63.36 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $65.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.90. The company has a market capitalization of $28.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 333.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.89. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $49.33 and a 52 week high of $71.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.82 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is presently 581.82%.

Ventas 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.