Bank of America Corp DE Cuts Stock Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Bank of America Corp DE lessened its holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 40.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,535,278 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,051,236 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE owned about 0.37% of Ventas worth $90,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in VTR. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ventas by 1,039.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 738 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Argus set a $75.00 price target on shares of Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 9,110 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.04, for a total transaction of $601,624.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,145,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $75,661,697.80. This trade represents a 0.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 313,888 shares of company stock valued at $21,536,515. Company insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of VTR stock opened at $65.96 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $29.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 347.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Ventas, Inc. has a 1-year low of $46.66 and a 1-year high of $71.36. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.96.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. The business had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.78 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 2.91%. Ventas’s payout ratio is 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.