Centaurus Financial Inc. Decreases Stake in Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE)

Centaurus Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE – Get Rating) by 18.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 934 shares of the company’s stock after selling 215 shares during the quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc.’s holdings in Chemed were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Chemed during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new position in shares of Chemed during the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Chemed by 29.2% during the 3rd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 115 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 26 shares during the period. Wipfli Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Chemed during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its position in shares of Chemed by 2,283.3% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 143 shares of the company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.12% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Chemed

In other news, CEO Kevin J. Mcnamara sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $507.32, for a total transaction of $1,014,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,696,707.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 4.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Chemed in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Chemed from $545.00 to $587.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 27th.

Chemed Stock Performance

NYSE CHE opened at $514.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $507.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $491.67. Chemed Co. has a 1-year low of $430.16 and a 1-year high of $539.13.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 24th. The company reported $5.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $5.30 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $546.65 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $546.60 million. Chemed had a return on equity of 41.54% and a net margin of 11.69%. Chemed’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.25 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Chemed Co. will post 20.85 EPS for the current year.

Chemed Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 27th were given a $0.38 dividend. This represents a $1.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 24th. Chemed’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.20%.

About Chemed

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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.