Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes Position in Ventas, Inc. $VTR

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 14,430 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $1,281,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in VTR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ventas during the second quarter valued at approximately $4,953,439,000. Capital World Investors bought a new stake in shares of Ventas in the 4th quarter worth $594,116,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the fourth quarter worth $474,571,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Ventas in the second quarter worth $501,850,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG bought a new position in shares of Ventas during the second quarter valued at $451,822,000. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Ventas from $95.00 to $88.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ventas from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Ventas from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $110.00 price target on shares of Ventas in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ventas has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.00.

Ventas Stock Performance

NYSE:VTR opened at $91.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.08 billion, a PE ratio of 169.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.69. Ventas, Inc. has a 52-week low of $66.38 and a 52-week high of $101.60.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.96 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. Ventas had a return on equity of 1.99% and a net margin of 4.08%.The firm’s revenue was up 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael J. Embler purchased 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $78.81 per share, for a total transaction of $197,025.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,202 shares in the company, valued at $1,513,309.62. This trade represents a 14.97% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Ventas

Ventas, Inc (NYSE: VTR) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in healthcare-related real estate. The company acquires, owns and manages a diversified portfolio of properties serving the healthcare continuum, including senior housing communities, skilled nursing facilities, medical office buildings, life science and research centers, and other properties leased to healthcare providers and operators. Ventas generates revenue through long-term leases, property management and selective development activities focused on meeting the real estate needs of the healthcare sector.

Ventas’ business model combines property ownership with active asset management and capital markets activity.