United Asset Strategies Inc. Raises Holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

United Asset Strategies Inc. increased its position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 69.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 68,394 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after buying an additional 28,120 shares during the period. United Asset Strategies Inc.’s holdings in Ventas were worth $4,386,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. US Bancorp DE increased its position in Ventas by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 20,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,335,000 after purchasing an additional 704 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management bought a new position in shares of Ventas during the third quarter valued at approximately $234,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Ventas by 250,000.0% during the third quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,501 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $160,000 after buying an additional 2,500 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in Ventas by 9.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,673 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $877,000 after buying an additional 1,148 shares during the period. Finally, abrdn plc raised its stake in Ventas by 28.7% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 961,359 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $61,878,000 after buying an additional 214,384 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wedbush increased their target price on Ventas from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Ventas from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $61.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $59.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.87, for a total value of $1,177,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 156,403 shares in the company, valued at $9,207,444.61. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total value of $2,296,125.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.87, for a total transaction of $1,177,400.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 156,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,207,444.61. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 79,285 shares of company stock worth $4,714,361. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE VTR traded up $0.24 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $66.72. The company had a trading volume of 946,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,372,936. Ventas, Inc. has a 1 year low of $41.45 and a 1 year high of $67.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $63.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $55.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.58, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The stock has a market cap of $27.57 billion, a P/E ratio of -167.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 1.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.74). The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.19 billion. Ventas had a negative return on equity of 1.63% and a negative net margin of 3.33%. The business’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 17th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 1st were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, October 1st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is currently -449.99%.

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.