Federated Hermes Inc. Trims Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR - Free Report) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,829 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock after selling 6,279 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in Ventas were worth $2,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Morse Asset Management Inc bought a new position in Ventas during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $64,000. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in Ventas by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 34,593 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $2,219,000 after buying an additional 1,985 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Ventas by 73.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 57,477 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock worth $3,686,000 after acquiring an additional 24,333 shares during the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of Ventas by 15.6% in the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 19,976 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $1,281,000 after acquiring an additional 2,690 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ventas by 10.9% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,177 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $396,000 after acquiring an additional 608 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VTR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a report on Friday, March 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W raised Ventas from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Ventas from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares of the company's stock, valued at $77,644,115.46. This trade represents a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 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. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 304,778 shares of company stock valued at $20,934,891. Insiders own 1.00% of the company's stock.

Ventas Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:VTR traded up $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $67.79. 2,903,497 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,670,472. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $42.05 and a one year high of $71.36. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.56. The company has a market cap of $29.67 billion, a PE ratio of 356.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NYSE:VTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. Equities analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is a positive change from Ventas's previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. Ventas's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 1,010.53%.

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.