Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.48

Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 12th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the real estate investment trust on Thursday, April 17th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This is a 6.7% increase from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Ventas has decreased its dividend by an average of 3.4% annually over the last three years. Ventas has a dividend payout ratio of 249.4% meaning the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Ventas to earn $3.69 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 52.0%.

Ventas Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE VTR opened at $68.74 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.05 billion, a PE ratio of 361.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $64.99 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. Ventas has a 12 month low of $41.45 and a 12 month high of $71.04.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.83. Ventas had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 0.82%. On average, analysts expect that Ventas will post 3.4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 214,679 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.22, for a total transaction of $14,645,401.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,138,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $77,644,115.46. The trade was a 15.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $716,373. This trade represents a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Ventas from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Baird R W raised Ventas from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Robert W. Baird upgraded Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho raised their target price on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Ventas from $69.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.90.

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.