Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Increases Stake in Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC boosted its holdings in Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 45,295 shares of the health services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,127 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Select Medical were worth $1,064,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Denali Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Select Medical by 337.9% in the fourth quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 63,783 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 49,218 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Select Medical during the third quarter valued at approximately $852,000. Clough Capital Partners L P raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 16.9% during the third quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P now owns 348,900 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $8,817,000 after purchasing an additional 50,400 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 3.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,387,202 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $35,055,000 after purchasing an additional 43,776 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 0.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,005,302 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $303,374,000 after purchasing an additional 64,373 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total transaction of $1,300,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 6,789,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $176,531,368. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 19.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SEM. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Select Medical in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $34.40.

Select Medical Stock Down 1.2 %

SEM stock opened at $27.40 on Friday. Select Medical Holdings Co. has a twelve month low of $21.28 and a twelve month high of $33.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32. The company has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.71.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The health services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Select Medical had a net margin of 3.65% and a return on equity of 16.93%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Select Medical Holdings Co. will post 2.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Select Medical Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $0.125 dividend. This represents a $0.50 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Select Medical’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.18%.

About Select Medical

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.