Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Select Medical Holdings Co. (NYSE:SEM) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in 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. Currently, 4.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,040,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SEM has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group decreased 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 note on Friday, January 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Select Medical from $47.00 to $23.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Benchmark raised shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $23.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Select Medical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Select Medical currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.25.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Select Medical

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Select Medical during the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 179.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,296 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,473 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of Select Medical during the 3rd quarter worth $81,000. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 33.5% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 4,955 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $93,000 after purchasing an additional 1,244 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Select Medical by 47.8% during the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,974 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $130,000 after purchasing an additional 2,255 shares during the period. 89.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Select Medical Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of Select Medical stock traded down $0.01 on Thursday, hitting $16.98. The stock had a trading volume of 143,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 743,775. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $18.66 and a 200 day moving average of $25.89. Select Medical has a twelve month low of $16.20 and a twelve month high of $40.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.29, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.56.

Select Medical (NYSE:SEM) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.50 billion. Select Medical had a return on equity of 14.04% and a net margin of 3.23%. Sell-side analysts expect that Select Medical will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Select Medical Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd were issued a $0.0625 dividend. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.47%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 3rd. Select Medical’s dividend payout ratio is currently 15.15%.

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.