GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 2,844 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 79.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,844 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of VTR. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ventas by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 19,812,595 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $987,460,000 after purchasing an additional 120,614 shares during the last quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ventas by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Centersquare Investment Management LLC now owns 7,806,396 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $345,667,000 after purchasing an additional 802,546 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Ventas by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,864,001 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $292,273,000 after purchasing an additional 19,643 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Ventas by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,489,159 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $239,000,000 after purchasing an additional 413,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $231,512,000. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.92.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 14,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.70, for a total transaction of $697,612.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,524 shares in the company, valued at $597,394.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 14,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.70, for a total transaction of $697,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 12,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,394.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Peter J. Bulgarelli 668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. Insiders have sold 35,270 shares of company stock worth $1,672,966 over the last three months. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of VTR stock traded down $0.65 on Monday, hitting $55.75. 2,368,504 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,275,395. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of -293.93, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.33. Ventas, Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.33 and a twelve month high of $57.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $51.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.74). The company had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Ventas had a negative net margin of 3.33% and a negative return on equity of 1.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -947.32%.

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.