When Will Ventas Finally Raise Its Dividend?
It was only in 2020, yet it seems like a really long time ago that coronavirus pandemic fears led to social distancing and the closure of non-essential businesses. Indeed, so many things have moved back toward normal that investors now seem to care more about interest rates and inflation growth than vaccination regimes and infection rates.
And yet real estate investment trust (REIT) Ventas (NYSE: VTR), which has a heavy focus on senior housing, is still feeling the pandemic effects and protecting its cash balances. Let's take a look at what happened to Ventas, how its turnaround efforts are going, and what it will take for dividend investors to feel like any turnaround is actually real.
Ventas cut its quarterly dividend in 2020, taking it from $0.7925 per share to $0.45, a hefty cut of nearly 45%. The dividend is still at $0.45 per share more than two years later. Without a doubt, this was a prudent and appropriate move. The REIT's funds from operations (FFO) fell 21% in 2021, leaving Ventas with an FFO payout ratio of roughly 68%. That's not an unreasonable level, but what's more important is that it provided ample room to account for further adversity in a time of great uncertainty.
Source Fool.com
