Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 10.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $361,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 7,040 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the third quarter worth $224,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Ventas by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,052 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,851,000 after acquiring an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its position in shares of Ventas by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 4,497 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC increased its position in Ventas by 54.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 29,495 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,892,000 after purchasing an additional 10,365 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 41,294 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.08, for a total transaction of $2,852,589.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $78,622,918.44. The trade was a 3.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Ventas from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.90.

Ventas Price Performance

Ventas stock opened at $68.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.81 billion, a PE ratio of 358.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.15. Ventas, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.45 and a 12 month high of $71.04.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. Equities analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. This is a boost from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

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.