Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE) Stock Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seven brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $603.00.

A number of brokerages have commented on CHE. UBS Group upped their price target on Chemed from $650.00 to $675.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Chemed from $548.00 to $585.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Chemed from $590.00 to $625.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Chemed from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Chemed from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $520.00 to $620.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 28th.

Chemed Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Chemed stock opened at $526.43 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.19, a PEG ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $514.46 and a 200 day moving average of $465.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.08 and a current ratio of 1.11. Chemed has a fifty-two week low of $365.20 and a fifty-two week high of $562.24.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 27th. The company reported $6.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $6.44 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $690.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.04 million. Chemed had a return on equity of 35.18% and a net margin of 10.61%. Chemed’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $5.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Chemed will post 24.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Chemed

In other news, CEO Kevin McNamara sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.90, for a total transaction of $1,075,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 82,220 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $44,226,138. This represents a 2.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Spencer Lee sold 920 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $537.17, for a total transaction of $494,196.40. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 13,931 shares in the company, valued at $7,483,315.27. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 9,920 shares of company stock valued at $5,223,056 over the last three months. 3.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Chemed

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Chemed during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $691,290,000. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in Chemed in the second quarter valued at approximately $48,255,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec bought a new stake in Chemed in the second quarter valued at approximately $44,309,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Chemed in the second quarter worth $43,800,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Chemed by 24.7% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 236,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $89,295,000 after buying an additional 46,791 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.85% of the company’s stock.

About Chemed

Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE) is a Cincinnati, Ohio-based company that provides healthcare and residential and commercial services through two operating businesses: VITAS Healthcare and Roto-Rooter. Its operations serve customers primarily in the United States, with Roto-Rooter also providing services in Canada.

VITAS Healthcare is a provider of hospice and palliative care for individuals with advanced illnesses. The business delivers care in patients’ homes, hospice inpatient units, hospitals, nursing facilities and other care settings.