Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund lowered its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 10,414 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 1,818 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in Ventas were worth $597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 9.5% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 52,798 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,386,000 after buying an additional 4,593 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new stake in Ventas in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ventas by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ventas by 179.8% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,127 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 5,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 81.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 104,646 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $6,711,000 after purchasing an additional 46,887 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VTR has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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. Finally, Mizuho decreased their price target on Ventas from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $69.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Price Performance

Shares of VTR stock opened at $66.82 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $59.94 and a 200 day moving average price of $61.79. Ventas, Inc. has a 52-week low of $41.45 and a 52-week high of $67.61. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $29.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 351.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.37.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a return on equity of 0.82% and a net margin of 1.65%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. This is a boost from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s payout ratio is 947.42%.

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.