Ventas, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.45 (NYSE:VTR)

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.45 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%.

Ventas has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 5.6% annually over the last three years. Ventas has a dividend payout ratio of 750.0% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Ventas to earn $3.37 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 53.4%.

Ventas Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE:VTR traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $61.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,980,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,409,219. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $63.91 and a 200 day moving average of $58.71. The company has a market capitalization of $25.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -359.68, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $67.61.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on VTR shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on Ventas from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Ventas from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ventas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.63.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 121,248 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.17, for a total value of $8,022,980.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 986,717 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,291,063.89. This represents a 10.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Company 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.