Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Has $13.27 Million Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 40.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 225,367 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 64,877 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in Ventas were worth $13,272,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ventas by 66.2% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Promus Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. New Wave Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Ventas by 1,039.4% during the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 809 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 738 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ventas Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE VTR opened at $67.67 on Friday. Ventas, Inc. has a 52 week low of $41.45 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $29.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 356.15, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.07.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) 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, topping 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%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a boost from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,010.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VTR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Argus set a $75.00 price objective on Ventas in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.90.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total value of $243,558.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

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.