Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Cuts Holdings in Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) by 6.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 26,319 shares of the health services provider’s stock after selling 1,822 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Select Medical were worth $618,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 30.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,763 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $474,000 after acquiring an additional 4,346 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Select Medical by 109.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 21,366 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $527,000 after acquiring an additional 11,176 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Select Medical by 230.0% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 16,500 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 11,500 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in Select Medical by 23.4% in the third quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 12,115 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 2,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Select Medical in the third quarter worth about $251,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.48% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on SEM shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Select Medical in a research note on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Select Medical from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Select Medical presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $34.80.

Select Medical Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Select Medical stock traded up $0.63 on Tuesday, hitting $32.74. 594,608 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 582,959. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $28.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30. Select Medical Holdings Co. has a 52 week low of $21.28 and a 52 week high of $33.51.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 23rd. The health services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Select Medical had a net margin of 3.97% and a return on equity of 18.11%. Select Medical’s revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.22 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Select Medical Holdings Co. will post 2.03 EPS for the current year.

Select Medical Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. Select Medical’s payout ratio is 23.81%.

Insider Activity at Select Medical

In other news, Chairman Robert A. Ortenzio sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.90, for a total transaction of $1,495,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 6,689,668 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $200,021,073.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 17.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Select Medical 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.