Share Repurchase Program Initiated by Select Medical (NYSE:SEM)

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Thursday, May 1st, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the health services provider to buy up to 42.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SEM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Benchmark raised Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho began coverage on Select Medical in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $25.00 price target for the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on Select Medical from $40.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com raised Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on Select Medical from $47.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.80.

Select Medical Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE SEM opened at $18.20 on Friday. Select Medical has a 1-year low of $14.99 and a 1-year high of $40.98. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $17.01 and a 200-day moving average of $21.96. The firm has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 11.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.38.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The health services provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Select Medical had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 14.04%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Select Medical will post 1.17 EPS for the current year.

Select Medical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. Select Medical’s payout ratio is 15.15%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Select Medical

In other Select Medical news, CEO David S. Chernow sold 225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 714,516 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,861,288. This represents a 23.95 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Select Medical Company Profile

Select Medical Holdings Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and occupational health centers in the United States. It operates in four segments: Critical Illness Recovery Hospital, Rehabilitation Hospital, Outpatient Rehabilitation, and Concentra.