Bank of Montreal Can Lowers Stock Position in Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE)

Bank of Montreal Can lowered its position in Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE) by 42.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,473 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,055 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Chemed were worth $3,279,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P raised its holdings in shares of Chemed by 0.4% in the third quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 29,159 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,523,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Chemed by 136.2% during the third quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 5,071 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,048,000 after buying an additional 2,924 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC increased its holdings in Chemed by 100.2% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 23,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,882,000 after buying an additional 11,560 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Chemed by 30.8% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 849 shares of the company’s stock worth $510,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Chemed by 8.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 122,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,792,000 after buying an additional 9,178 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.85% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CHE. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Chemed from $697.00 to $633.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Chemed from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 30th.

Chemed Stock Up 0.5 %

CHE opened at $569.80 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.79, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $576.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $565.09. Chemed Co. has a twelve month low of $523.33 and a twelve month high of $654.62.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $5.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $5.76 by ($0.12). Chemed had a return on equity of 27.86% and a net margin of 12.69%. The business had revenue of $606.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.22 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $5.32 EPS. Chemed’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Chemed Co. will post 21.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Chemed Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.35%. Chemed’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.11%.

Insider Activity

In other Chemed news, EVP Spencer S. Lee sold 732 shares of Chemed stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $575.62, for a total transaction of $421,353.84. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 18,287 shares in the company, valued at $10,526,362.94. The trade was a 3.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Nicholas Michael Westfall sold 1,713 shares of Chemed stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $569.35, for a total transaction of $975,296.55. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,109 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,478,159.15. The trade was a 21.90 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 6,845 shares of company stock worth $3,978,798. 3.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Chemed Company Profile

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 primarily in the United States. The company operates in VITAS and Roto-Rooter segments. It offers plumbing, drain cleaning, excavation, water restoration, and other related services to residential and commercial customers through company-owned branches, independent contractors, and franchisees.