Chemed Co. (NYSE:CHE) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.50

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

Chemed has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.7% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 16 years. Chemed has a dividend payout ratio of 8.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:CHE opened at $557.95 on Friday. Chemed has a twelve month low of $523.33 and a twelve month high of $654.62. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $580.37 and its 200-day moving average is $565.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.19, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.46.

Chemed (NYSE:CHE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $5.64 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $5.76 by ($0.12). Chemed had a net margin of 12.69% and a return on equity of 27.86%. The company had revenue of $606.18 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $612.22 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $5.32 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Chemed will post 21.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on Chemed from $697.00 to $633.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Chemed

In other news, CEO Kevin J. Mcnamara sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $598.81, for a total transaction of $1,197,620.00. Following the completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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 sale, the director now directly owns 3,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,991,615.70. This represents a 5.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 4,313 shares of company stock worth $2,527,495. Corporate insiders own 3.32% of the company’s stock.

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.