Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stake in Chemed Corporation $CHE

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Chemed Corporation by 9.7%, acquiring an additional 19,421 shares to hold a total of 218,675 shares valued at approximately $134.5 million.
• Chemed's quarterly earnings missed analysts' expectations, reporting $4.27 EPS against a forecast of $6.02, while the company's revenue was 3.8% higher year-over-year.
• Chemed recently announced a dividend increase to $0.60 per share, which represents an annualized yield of 0.5%, up from the previous dividend of $0.50.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Chemed Corporation (NYSE:CHE - Free Report) by 9.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 218,675 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 19,421 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.49% of Chemed worth $134,547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in Chemed by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 950 shares of the company's stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC bought a new stake in Chemed in the 1st quarter valued at $265,000. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in Chemed by 53.3% in the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 161 shares of the company's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Park Place Capital Corp increased its holdings in Chemed by 71.2% in the 1st quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 3,572 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Chemed by 108.4% in the 1st quarter. Synergy Asset Management LLC now owns 3,049 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,876,000 after acquiring an additional 1,586 shares during the last quarter. 95.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chemed

In other news, Director George J. Walsh III acquired 200 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was bought at an average price of $417.10 per share, with a total value of $83,420.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 3,523 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,469,443.30. This represents a 6.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Nicholas Michael Westfall sold 10,012 shares of Chemed stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $421.91, for a total transaction of $4,224,162.92. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.29% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CHE. Bank of America dropped their price objective on shares of Chemed from $708.00 to $650.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Chemed in a research note on Friday, July 25th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of Chemed from $650.00 to $580.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Chemed from $640.00 to $589.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Chemed from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Chemed has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $579.75.

Chemed Stock Up 1.3%

CHE traded up $5.9150 on Friday, reaching $460.0050. 164,599 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 191,369. Chemed Corporation has a one year low of $408.42 and a one year high of $623.60. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $472.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $540.66. The company has a market cap of $6.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.46.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $4.27 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $6.02 by ($1.75). The business had revenue of $618.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $650.60 million. Chemed had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 25.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $5.47 EPS. Chemed has set its FY 2025 guidance at 22.000-22.300 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Chemed Corporation will post 21.43 earnings per share for the current year.

Chemed Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 11th will be issued a $0.60 dividend. This is an increase from Chemed's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 11th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Chemed's payout ratio is currently 12.34%.

Chemed 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.