Mackay Shields LLC Buys Shares of 1,283 Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE)

Mackay Shields LLC acquired a new position in Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $556,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CHE. Great Diamond Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Chemed in the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Paragon Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Chemed in the 1st quarter worth $43,000. Private Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Chemed during the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Chemed by 876.9% during the 4th quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 127 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC bought a new position in shares of Chemed during the 1st quarter valued at about $74,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.10% of the company’s stock.

In other Chemed news, VP Naomi C. Dallob sold 2,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $430.00, for a total value of $946,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,347 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,009,210. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kevin J. Mcnamara sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $431.36, for a total value of $3,019,520.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 143,727 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,998,078.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 14,500 shares of company stock worth $6,528,079 over the last three months. 3.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Several research firms have commented on CHE. Zacks Investment Research raised shares of Chemed from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $489.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Chemed from $525.00 to $535.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Chemed from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $448.00 to $535.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, ValuEngine raised shares of Chemed from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Chemed presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $509.80.

Shares of NYSE:CHE opened at $482.27 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Chemed Co. has a 12 month low of $324.31 and a 12 month high of $513.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $447.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $441.74. The company has a market cap of $7.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.29, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.67.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $3.65 by $0.03. Chemed had a net margin of 11.60% and a return on equity of 35.99%. The firm had revenue of $515.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $523.04 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Chemed Co. will post 16.31 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 28th will be given a $0.32 dividend. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.27%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 27th. Chemed’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.18%.

About Chemed

Chemed Corporation provides hospice and palliative care services to patients through a network of physicians, registered nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy, and volunteers in the United States. It operates through two segments, VITAS and Roto-Rooter. The company also offers plumbing, drain cleaning, water restoration, and other related services to residential and commercial customers through company-owned and independent contractors, and franchised locations.

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