225,400 Shares in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Purchased by APG Asset Management N.V.

APG Asset Management N.V. bought a new stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 225,400 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $12,819,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in Ventas by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 61,270 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,607,000 after buying an additional 5,832 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ventas by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,499,228 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $147,180,000 after acquiring an additional 896,717 shares in the last quarter. FIL Ltd raised its position in shares of Ventas by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 179,743 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $10,585,000 after purchasing an additional 5,814 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Ventas by 21.4% in the 4th quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas now owns 257,899 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $15,188,000 after purchasing an additional 45,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Ventas by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 409,931 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $24,141,000 after purchasing an additional 18,629 shares in the last quarter. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on VTR. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.90.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In related news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $243,558.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 304,778 shares of company stock worth $20,934,891 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Down 0.2 %

Ventas stock opened at $65.46 on Friday. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $71.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $66.36 and a 200 day moving average of $63.44. 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 has a market cap of $28.64 billion, a PE ratio of 344.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. 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 2.93%. Ventas’s payout ratio is presently 1,010.53%.

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.