Ventas Receives Neutral Rating from Zacks (VTR)
Ventas (NYSE: VTR)‘s stock had its “neutral” rating reiterated by Zacks in a research note issued to investors on Friday. They currently have a $74.00 price target on the stock.
Zacks‘ analyst wrote, “Ventas reported strong fourth quarter 2012 results with FFO exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The results were aided by accretive acquisitions, decent seniors housing communities’ performance and rental escalation from its triple-net lease portfolio. Moreover, the company’s strategic move in Atria Senior Living boosted the quarterly results. Also, Ventas hiked its quarterly dividend payout by 8% in the quarter. The company’s significantly diversified portfolio provides it a hard-to-replicate business model which gives it an edge over its peers. Moreover, the healthcare sector is relatively immune to the downturn in the economy, and provides a steady source of income that insulates the company from short-term market volatility. Yet, a large portion of its revenue originates from a few tenants, which exposes it to concentration risk and undermines its growth potential to some extent. Thus, we maintain our neutral recommendation on the stock.”
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Jefferies Group raised their price target on shares of Ventas from $72.00 to $78.00 in a research note to investors on Monday. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Ventas from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note to investors on Friday, March 1st. They now have a $68.00 price target on the stock.
Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, one has given an overweight rating, eight have issued a hold rating, and two have issued a sell rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has a consensus rating of “overweight” and a consensus price target of $69.40.
Shares of Ventas (NYSE: VTR) traded down 0.13% during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $70.43. Ventas has a 52 week low of $53.94 and a 52 week high of $72.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $68.80. The company has a market cap of $20.562 billion and a P/E ratio of 57.15.
Ventas (NYSE: VTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 15th. The company reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.97 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $660.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $644.71 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.89 earnings per share. Ventas’s revenue was up 17.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Ventas has set its FY13 guidance at $3.99-4.07 EPS. Analysts expect that Ventas will post $4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th will be given a dividend of $0.67 per share. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 6th. This is a boost from Ventas’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62.
Ventas, Inc. is a real estate investment trust (REIT) with a portfolio of seniors housing and healthcare properties in the United States and Canada.
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