Arizona State Retirement System Grows Stock Holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 120,462 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after acquiring an additional 4,495 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System's holdings in Ventas were worth $7,094,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in Ventas by 66.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ventas during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 3rd quarter valued at $64,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on VTR shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho dropped 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. Robert W. Baird raised Ventas from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $72.20.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total value of $14,645,401.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at $77,644,115.46. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ventas Trading Down 1.4 %

NYSE:VTR traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $66.60. The company had a trading volume of 3,335,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,376,813. 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 50-day moving average price of $62.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.73. The company has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 350.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.45 and a 52 week high of $71.04.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This is an increase from Ventas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. Ventas's dividend payout ratio is 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.