Fred Alger Management LLC Acquires Shares of 7,342 The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG)

Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new stake in The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 7,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $908,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ENSG. UBS Group AG grew its stake in The Ensign Group by 102.9% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 64,828 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,274,000 after acquiring an additional 32,884 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in The Ensign Group by 8.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 60,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,777,000 after acquiring an additional 4,675 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in The Ensign Group by 1,126.8% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in The Ensign Group by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 15,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in The Ensign Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 73,080 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,200,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.12% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ENSG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Macquarie initiated coverage on The Ensign Group in a research note on Friday, June 28th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $134.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on The Ensign Group from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on The Ensign Group from $155.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $139.50.

The Ensign Group Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ENSG opened at $144.11 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $145.73 and its 200 day moving average is $130.09. The stock has a market cap of $8.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.92, a PEG ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.96. The Ensign Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $90.00 and a 12-month high of $154.93. The company has a quick ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

The Ensign Group (NASDAQ:ENSG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. The Ensign Group had a return on equity of 17.32% and a net margin of 5.68%. The Ensign Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Ensign Group, Inc. will post 4.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The Ensign Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.06 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.17%. The Ensign Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Barry Port sold 3,000 shares of The Ensign Group stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total transaction of $420,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,716 shares in the company, valued at $7,520,240. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other The Ensign Group news, CEO Barry Port sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.00, for a total value of $420,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 53,716 shares in the company, valued at $7,520,240. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Daren Shaw sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.71, for a total value of $283,420.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 29,125 shares in the company, valued at $4,127,303.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,736 shares of company stock worth $3,491,039. 3.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About The Ensign Group

The Ensign Group, Inc provides skilled nursing, senior living, and rehabilitative services. It operates through two segments: Skilled Services and Standard Bearer. The company's Skilled Services segment engages in the operation of skilled nursing facilities and rehabilitation therapy services for patients with chronic conditions, prolonged illness, and the elderly; and offers nursing facilities including specialty care, such as on-site dialysis, ventilator care, cardiac, and pulmonary management, as well as standard services comprising room and board, special nutritional programs, social services, recreational activities, entertainment, and other services.