Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) Shares Up 8.8% After Dividend Announcement

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM)’s share price was up 8.8% on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $31.32 and last traded at $30.96. Approximately 693,586 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 23% from the average daily volume of 562,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.45.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.59%. Select Medical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SEM shares. StockNews.com upgraded Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price target on shares of Select Medical in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.40.

Select Medical Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.32, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.93.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last issued 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. Select Medical had a net margin of 3.97% and a return on equity of 18.45%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Select Medical Holdings Co. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.00, for a total transaction of $1,300,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 6,789,668 shares in the company, valued at approximately $176,531,368. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 19.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEM. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Select Medical in the 4th quarter valued at $34,320,000. Deutsche Bank AG lifted its holdings in Select Medical by 1,015.2% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 553,306 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $13,982,000 after purchasing an additional 503,692 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,347,798 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $290,173,000 after acquiring an additional 342,496 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 450.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 309,273 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $9,325,000 after acquiring an additional 253,134 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,739,361 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $40,875,000 after acquiring an additional 235,964 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.48% of the company’s stock.

Select Medical Company Profile

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.