Ventas (NYSE:VTR) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The company traded as high as $78.09 and last traded at $78.0740, with a volume of 2998434 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on VTR. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Ventas in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Ventas in a research note on Friday, September 19th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target (up previously from $74.00) on shares of Ventas in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $74.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Ventas from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.36.

Ventas Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $36.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.66 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.30.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.44 billion. Ventas had a net margin of 4.28% and a return on equity of 2.10%. The company’s revenue was up 20.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 earnings per share. Ventas has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.450-3.480 EPS. Analysts expect that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 16th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Ventas’s payout ratio is currently 369.23%.

Insider Transactions at Ventas

In other news, CEO Peter J. Bulgarelli sold 870 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.28, for a total value of $65,493.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 111,694 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,408,324.32. This trade represents a 0.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 19,250 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.29, for a total transaction of $1,449,332.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,145,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $86,259,376.55. This trade represents a 1.65% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 652,618 shares of company stock worth $47,791,654. Insiders own 0.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ventas

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in Ventas in the 2nd quarter valued at $344,740,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ventas during the first quarter valued at $359,113,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ventas by 4.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 71,796,312 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $4,533,937,000 after acquiring an additional 2,854,751 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Ventas by 9.5% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 32,347,333 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $2,224,203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,811,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG increased its position in Ventas by 142.4% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,507,841 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $245,514,000 after purchasing an additional 2,060,770 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Company 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.