Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 79,557 Shares of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR)

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 918,740 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,557 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.22% of Ventas worth $53,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Korea Investment CORP boosted its stake in Ventas by 40.0% during the fourth quarter. Korea Investment CORP now owns 272,702 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $16,059,000 after buying an additional 77,890 shares during the period. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ventas by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 6,092 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $361,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ventas by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,501,010 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock valued at $3,916,244,000 after purchasing an additional 912,813 shares during the last quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Ventas during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $360,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Ventas by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 226,381 shares of the real estate investment trust’s stock worth $13,332,000 after purchasing an additional 11,767 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Ventas from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $66.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Ventas from $68.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Ventas from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Ventas from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Wedbush raised 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.90.

Ventas Stock Performance

VTR stock opened at $68.74 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $63.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Ventas, Inc. has a one year low of $41.45 and a one year high of $71.04. The firm has a market cap of $30.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 361.81, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.37.

Ventas (NYSE:VTR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The real estate investment trust reported $0.81 EPS 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, equities analysts forecast that Ventas, Inc. will post 3.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ventas Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. Ventas’s dividend payout ratio is currently 1,010.53%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ventas

In other Ventas news, CEO Debra A. Cafaro sold 388 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.00, for a total transaction of $27,548.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,128,143 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,098,153. This represents a 0.03 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Gregory R. Liebbe sold 3,866 shares of Ventas stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.00, for a total transaction of $243,558.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 11,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $716,373. The trade was a 25.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 260,227 shares of company stock worth $17,769,097. 1.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.