Huntington National Bank Grows Stock Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Huntington National Bank increased its stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 59.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,496 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Ventas were worth $147,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of VTR. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Ventas by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 34,973 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $2,060,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Ventas by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 5,186 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $305,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Ventas by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,221 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Ventas by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 6,644 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 181 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Ventas by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 7,947 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $468,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the period. 94.18% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 11,371 shares in the company, valued at $716,373. This represents a 25.37 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $14,645,401.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. This represents a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock valued at $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ventas Stock Down 5.8 %

NYSE VTR opened at $65.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.39. 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 company has a market cap of $28.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 345.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.02. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $71.36.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. Research analysts anticipate that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is 1,010.53%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on VTR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W upgraded Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of 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 report on Friday, January 17th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.90.

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.