Short Interest in Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Grows By 17.3%

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 4,470,000 shares, a growth of 17.3% from the February 13th total of 3,810,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Currently, 4.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SEM. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Select Medical from $40.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of Select Medical from $47.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Benchmark raised shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Select Medical has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.25.

Select Medical Stock Up 0.6 %

Select Medical stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.02. The company had a trading volume of 904,843 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,775. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.31, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.56. Select Medical has a 1 year low of $16.20 and a 1 year high of $40.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.70 and a 200 day moving average of $25.95.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The health services provider reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.50 billion. Select Medical had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 14.04%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Select Medical will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Select Medical Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.0625 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. Select Medical’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 15.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Select Medical

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Select Medical in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Select Medical by 179.0% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 1,473 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Select Medical in the 3rd quarter valued at $81,000. Covestor Ltd grew its position in Select Medical by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,955 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $93,000 after buying an additional 1,244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its position in Select Medical by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,974 shares of the health services provider’s stock valued at $130,000 after buying an additional 2,255 shares during the last quarter. 89.48% of the stock is currently 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.