SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 2,426 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

SG Americas Securities LLC cut its stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 19.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,859 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 2,426 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Ventas were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 20.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,959 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 53.9% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 811 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 67,590 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,647,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 54.5% during the 1st quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,336 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,530 shares during the period. Finally, Vert Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Ventas by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Vert Asset Management LLC now owns 198,184 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $13,627,000 after acquiring an additional 16,935 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In related news, CFO Robert F. Probst sold 69,592 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.59, for a total value of $4,494,947.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 168,364 shares in the company, valued at $10,874,630.76. This trade represents a 29.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 44,551 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.06, for a total value of $3,165,794.06. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,145,695 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $81,413,086.70. This trade represents a 3.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 165,586 shares of company stock valued at $10,997,929. 0.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VTR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ventas from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Ventas from $65.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Argus set a $75.00 price target on Ventas in a research note on Friday, March 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

Ventas Trading Down 0.3%

VTR stock opened at $62.49 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $65.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.87. Ventas, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.48 and a fifty-two week high of $71.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.10, a quick ratio of 0.32 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $28.20 billion, a PE ratio of 189.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.89.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.02. Ventas had a net margin of 2.80% and a return on equity of 1.36%. The firm had revenue of $1.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.32 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. Ventas’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 581.82%.

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.