Chemed Co. (CHE) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 18th

Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 8th,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.36%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th.

Chemed has increased its dividend by an average of 5.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Chemed has a payout ratio of 8.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Chemed to earn $23.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 8.6%.

Chemed Stock Performance

CHE opened at $558.64 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.23, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $580.37 and a 200-day moving average of $565.40. Chemed has a 1-year low of $523.33 and a 1-year high of $654.62.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $606.18 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $612.22 million. Chemed had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 27.86%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.32 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Chemed will post 21.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Chemed news, CEO Kevin J. Mcnamara sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $598.81, for a total value of $1,197,620.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 103,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $62,117,555.35. This trade represents a 1.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director George J. Walsh III sold 200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $577.95, for a total value of $115,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 3,446 shares in the company, valued at $1,991,615.70. The trade was a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,313 shares of company stock worth $2,527,495 over the last quarter. 3.32% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, 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.

About Chemed

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.