Scotiabank Increases Ventas (NYSE:VTR) Price Target to $65.00

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) had its target price raised by analysts at Scotiabank from $59.00 to $65.00 in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “sector perform” rating on the real estate investment trust’s stock. Scotiabank’s price target points to a potential upside of 3.26% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $52.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Ventas from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $61.00 to $71.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wedbush increased their target price on shares of Ventas from $64.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Ventas to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.63.

Ventas Price Performance

NYSE:VTR opened at $62.95 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $26.01 billion, a PE ratio of -157.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.36. Ventas has a 12 month low of $40.98 and a 12 month high of $65.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.36. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $61.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.10.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $2,296,125.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 40,079 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.29, for a total transaction of $2,296,125.91. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 986,717 shares in the company, valued at approximately $56,529,016.93. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.99, for a total transaction of $389,940.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 90,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,900,767.05. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 77,065 shares of company stock valued at $4,526,464 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VTR. Integrated Advisors Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas during the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Ventas by 405.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 171,194 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $8,532,000 after purchasing an additional 137,327 shares in the last quarter. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter worth about $97,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Ventas by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 62,424 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in Ventas in the 4th quarter worth about $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% 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.