Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. Reduces Stock Position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Roman Butler Fullerton & Co. lowered its position in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,258 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after selling 176 shares during the period. Roman Butler Fullerton & Co.’s holdings in Ventas were worth $325,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its position in Ventas by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 8,120 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $521,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Eastern Bank raised its holdings in Ventas by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Eastern Bank now owns 3,308 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $195,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Ventas by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 5,639 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $362,000 after purchasing an additional 203 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Ventas by 66.2% in the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 527 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its holdings in Ventas by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 5,832 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

VTR has been the subject of several research reports. Baird R W upgraded shares of Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a report on Friday, January 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $68.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.14.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of VTR stock opened at $66.57 on Friday. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $67.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.59 and its 200 day moving average is $61.51. The company has a market capitalization of $27.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -391.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 negative net margin of 1.38% and a negative return on equity of 0.69%. Sell-side analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. This is an increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is -1,058.76%.

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.