Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) – Equities researchers at Capital One Financial increased their Q2 2019 earnings per share estimates for shares of Ventas in a research report issued on Monday, July 1st. Capital One Financial analyst D. Bernstein now anticipates that the real estate investment trust will post earnings per share of $0.96 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.95. Capital One Financial also issued estimates for Ventas’ Q4 2019 earnings at $0.96 EPS, FY2019 earnings at $3.82 EPS, Q1 2020 earnings at $0.98 EPS, Q2 2020 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q3 2020 earnings at $0.99 EPS, Q4 2020 earnings at $1.00 EPS and FY2020 earnings at $3.97 EPS.
A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on VTR. Citigroup upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $67.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 19th. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group lifted their price target on Ventas from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. ValuEngine downgraded Ventas from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Ventas from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank lifted their price target on Ventas from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.82.
Shares of VTR opened at $67.91 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $24.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.69, a PEG ratio of 4.46 and a beta of 0.28. Ventas has a 12 month low of $51.80 and a 12 month high of $73.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $66.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.56.
Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 26th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.03. Ventas had a return on equity of 4.04% and a net margin of 12.19%. The firm had revenue of $942.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $908.61 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.22 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.7925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $3.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.67%. Ventas’s payout ratio is 77.89%.
In other news, Chairman Debra A. Cafaro sold 68,084 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.54, for a total value of $4,530,309.36. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 805,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,620,260.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP T Richard Riney sold 29,702 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.45, for a total transaction of $2,092,505.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 163,488 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,517,729.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 165,866 shares of company stock worth $11,323,058 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Ventas by 88.9% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Advisors Inc. now owns 391 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Heritage Wealth Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Ventas by 59.3% during the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Advisors now owns 478 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas during the first quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Marino Stram & Associates LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ventas during the first quarter worth about $33,000. 87.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Ventas
Ventas, Inc, an S&P 500 company, is a leading real estate investment trust. Its diverse portfolio of approximately 1,200 assets in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom consists of seniors housing communities, medical office buildings, university-based research and innovation centers, inpatient rehabilitation and long-term acute care facilities, and health systems.