Insider Selling: Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE) Director Sells 405 Shares of Stock

Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE – Get Rating) Director Donald E. Saunders sold 405 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $521.23, for a total value of $211,098.15. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,778,677.13. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Shares of NYSE CHE opened at $498.60 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $484.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $482.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Chemed Co. has a 1-year low of $403.00 and a 1-year high of $539.87. The company has a market cap of $7.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.53.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 24th. The company reported $5.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $5.06 by $0.19. Chemed had a return on equity of 38.47% and a net margin of 12.55%. The company had revenue of $541.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $543.18 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $5.13 EPS. Chemed’s revenue was up 1.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chemed Co. will post 19.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 28th were issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 25th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.29%. Chemed’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.53%.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Chemed by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 487,074 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,682,000 after acquiring an additional 23,949 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Chemed during the 3rd quarter worth about $197,126,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Chemed by 22.5% during the 4th quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 418,761 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,541,000 after acquiring an additional 76,904 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Chemed by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 314,913 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,602,000 after acquiring an additional 5,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Chemed by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 299,183 shares of the company’s stock worth $139,156,000 after acquiring an additional 4,847 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.38% of the company’s stock.

Several research firms recently issued reports on CHE. Zacks Investment Research raised Chemed from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $496.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 21st. StockNews.com began coverage on Chemed in a research note on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Chemed from $609.00 to $579.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 4th.

About Chemed (Get Rating)

Chemed Corp. engages in the provision of healthcare and maintenance services. It operates through the VITAS and Roto-Rooter segments. The VITAS segment offers hospice and palliative care services to patients through a network of physicians, registered nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy, and volunteers.

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