Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,181 Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,181 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock, valued at approximately $61,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. DNB Asset Management AS grew its holdings in shares of Ventas by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 67,311 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $3,450,000 after acquiring an additional 1,684 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Ventas by 79.0% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,443 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $330,000 after buying an additional 2,844 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ventas by 47.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 8,347 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $363,000 after buying an additional 2,686 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Ventas by 480.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 35,325 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $1,538,000 after buying an additional 29,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PGGM Investments acquired a new stake in Ventas during the 1st quarter valued at $266,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Ventas Stock Performance

Shares of VTR traded up $0.99 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $58.16. 798,343 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,279,182. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $51.81 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -300.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.63. Ventas, Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.33 and a 12 month high of $58.63.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The real estate investment trust reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.74). Ventas had a negative return on equity of 1.63% and a negative net margin of 3.33%. The firm had revenue of $1.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.19 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. Ventas’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Ventas Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 18th. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, July 1st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. Ventas’s payout ratio is -947.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

VTR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Ventas from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Wedbush increased their target price on Ventas from $54.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Scotiabank increased their price target on Ventas from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Ventas from $46.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 30th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.92.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 14,625 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.70, for a total transaction of $697,612.50. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $597,394.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ventas news, Director Walter C. Rakowich sold 2,145 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.40, for a total value of $103,818.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 26,031 shares in the company, valued at $1,259,900.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 14,625 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.70, for a total transaction of $697,612.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 12,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $597,394.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 60,633 shares of company stock valued at $3,306,585 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 1.00% 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.