Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $26.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SEM. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Select Medical from $23.00 to $19.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Benchmark upgraded shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 24th. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Select Medical in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st.

Select Medical Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SEM opened at $15.12 on Thursday. Select Medical has a 52 week low of $14.03 and a 52 week high of $40.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.16, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The health services provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.01). Select Medical had a return on equity of 14.04% and a net margin of 3.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Select Medical’s revenue for the quarter was down 24.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Select Medical will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Select Medical declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, May 1st that permits the company to repurchase $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the health services provider to reacquire up to 42.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Select Medical Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.65%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. Select Medical’s payout ratio is currently 18.66%.

Insider Transactions at Select Medical

In other Select Medical news, Director Parvinderjit S. Khanuja acquired 21,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $15.02 per share, with a total value of $315,420.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 65,089 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $977,636.78. The trade was a 47.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO David S. Chernow sold 225,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.00, for a total transaction of $4,050,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 714,516 shares in the company, valued at $12,861,288. This trade represents a 23.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 11.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Select Medical

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 17,755,298 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $296,515,000 after acquiring an additional 270,488 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Select Medical by 4.7% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,316,069 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $222,378,000 after buying an additional 603,079 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Select Medical by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,431,469 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $83,533,000 after buying an additional 62,585 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Select Medical by 48.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,643,943 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $49,838,000 after buying an additional 864,852 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Select Medical by 3.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,476,816 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $41,363,000 after buying an additional 73,308 shares during the period. 89.48% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Select Medical

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.