Cypress Capital Group Has $395,000 Stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Cypress Capital Group decreased its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,714 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 199 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Ventas were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in Ventas by 862.7% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,932,017 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $252,160,000 after purchasing an additional 3,523,594 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Ventas by 105.2% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,420,322 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $347,605,000 after purchasing an additional 2,778,408 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Ventas by 4.4% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,364,810 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,498,385,000 after purchasing an additional 982,795 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 27,557,480 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,767,261,000 after purchasing an additional 599,600 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in Ventas by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,671,227 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $1,710,426,000 after purchasing an additional 581,870 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE VTR opened at $70.50 on Thursday. Ventas, Inc. has a 12 month low of $41.45 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $30.82 billion, a PE ratio of 371.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.51.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results 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%. Research analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. This is a boost from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on VTR shares. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 5th. Robert W. Baird raised Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com raised Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W raised Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction 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 $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total value of $27,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,128,143 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

About Ventas

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.