Chemed (NYSE:CHE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $6.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $6.39 by $0.36, FiscalAI reports. Chemed had a return on equity of 31.77% and a net margin of 10.60%. The company had revenue of $690.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.04 million.

Chemed Price Performance

CHE stock traded down $6.44 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $506.46. The stock had a trading volume of 191,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 201,107. Chemed has a 1-year low of $365.20 and a 1-year high of $557.00. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $514.82 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $461.28. The stock has a market cap of $6.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 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 Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This is an increase from Chemed’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.6%. Chemed’s payout ratio is presently 14.06%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chemed

In other Chemed news, CEO Kevin McNamara sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $513.45, for a total transaction of $1,026,900.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 66,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,102,322.10. The trade was a 2.92% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Spencer Lee sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $541.04, for a total transaction of $541,040.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 13,912 shares in the company, valued at $7,526,948.48. The trade was a 6.71% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 9,190 shares of company stock valued at $4,833,160. 3.33% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Chemed from $500.00 to $590.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Chemed in a research report on Friday, September 25th. They set a “buy” rating and a $650.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Chemed from $436.00 to $548.00 and gave the company 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, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Chemed from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $554.60.

Chemed Company Profile

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.