Wall Street Zen Upgrades Chemed (NYSE:CHE) to Strong-Buy

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Chemed from $436.00 to $548.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Chemed from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Chemed from $500.00 to $590.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Chemed in a report on Friday, September 25th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Chemed in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Chemed currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $554.60.

Chemed Stock Down 0.1%

CHE stock opened at $499.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $521.28 and a 200-day moving average of $466.99. Chemed has a fifty-two week low of $365.20 and a fifty-two week high of $557.00. The company has a market capitalization of $6.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.07, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported $6.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.60 by $0.46. The business had revenue of $673.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $665.04 million. Chemed had a return on equity of 31.77% and a net margin of 10.60%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 8.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $4.27 EPS. Chemed has set its FY 2026 guidance at 25.000-25.750 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Chemed will post 23.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Patrick P. Grace sold 190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $532.00, for a total transaction of $101,080.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,533 shares in the company, valued at $1,879,556. This represents a 5.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kevin J. Mcnamara sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $539.51, for a total value of $1,079,020.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 70,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,991,215.18. This represents a 2.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 9,190 shares of company stock worth $4,833,160 in the last quarter. 3.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chemed

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Chemed by 7.3% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 665 shares of the company’s stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 45 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in Chemed by 25.9% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,161 shares of the company’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in Chemed by 0.3% during the third quarter. Fenimore Asset Management Inc now owns 36,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,501,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Chemed in the 2nd quarter worth about $563,000. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chemed by 9.7% in the 2nd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 27,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461 shares in the last quarter. 95.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Chemed Company Profile

Chemed Corporation is a diversified services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its operations are organized through two principal businesses: VITAS Healthcare and Roto-Rooter.

VITAS Healthcare provides hospice and palliative care for patients with advanced illnesses. Its services include clinical care, pain and symptom management, emotional and spiritual support, and assistance for patients and their families in homes, hospice residences, hospitals, nursing facilities, and other care settings.