The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) is a healthcare provider company that has been attracting attention from a growing number of investors since it announced its quarterly earnings results in early February. According to Bloomberg Ratings reports, the company’s shares have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by six analysts who are currently covering the firm. Four of these analysts have issued a buy rating on the company, while one analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating.
Given the positive sentiment surrounding The Ensign Group’s performance, it is not surprising that brokers who issued ratings on the stock in the last year have set an average 1-year target price of $103.60.
The Ensign Group’s latest earnings results were published on February 3rd and showed that for the quarter, it had reported $1.10 EPS – this exceeded the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.08. Additionally, The Ensign Group had a net margin of 7.43% and return on equity of 19.30%. In comparing estimates to actuals, revenue for Q4 was up 16.8% compared to the same quarter in 2019 at $809.53 million.
In terms of recent investment activity surrounding The Ensign Group, several large institutional investors have added to or reduced their stakes in the company over the past few months; MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its stake by 0.4% during Q4 after purchasing an additional 126 shares, while Victory Capital Management Inc grew its stake by over 15% during that same period after buying an additional 41,434 shares.
Voya Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in The Ensign Group by almost a third during Q4 after buying an additional 58,265 shares while Natixis bought a new position valued at approximately $26k.
Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky boosted its holdings of ENSG by 9.9% in Q4 and now owns 16,975 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,606,000.
Overall, The Ensign Group’s performance has been impressive despite the ongoing pandemic. Its solid Q4 results have attracted a growing number of investors looking to capitalize on the healthcare provider’s success. It remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the rest of 2021, but given their current performance, all signs point to continued growth and success for The Ensign Group in the months ahead.
Mixed Reviews for The Ensign Group Inc. as Analysts Weigh In and Insiders Sell Shares
The Ensign Group Inc. (ENSG) has recently been in the spotlight, as a number of brokerages have weighed in on the company with mixed reviews. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on the Ensign Group from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating last February 3rd. However, StockNews.com lowered its rating from “buy” to “hold” just last Saturday.
According to market data, shares of ENSG opened at $95.16 on Tuesday; this indicates a strong start for the week ahead. The nursing home operator firm currently sports a market capitalization of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, and a beta of 1.02 which are calculated using the company’s latest financial statements submitted to regulatory agencies.
Analysts have also noted that ENSG has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, demonstrating its ability to fund its operations purely through shareholder equity more efficiently as compared to those businesses that depend on debts to finance their ventures.
Additionally, large investment companies like MetLife Investment Management LLC, Victory Capital Management Inc., and Voya Investment Management LLC have recently added or increased their stake in The Ensign Group during Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 so far.
On another note, it is worth mentioning that ENSG’s Chief Financial Officer Suzanne D. Snapper has sold some of her shares in various transactions this year alone amounting to approximately over $8 million combined while insiders (including Snapper) sold over 51 thousand shares valued at almost $5 million altogether within only the last 90 days according to recent documents filed with relevant regulatory commissions.
Despite these news items surrounding ENSG being currently up for debate by different parties who either believe or doubt momentum will be gained soon by this stock— those interested in investing could find the recent quarterly dividend a plus as the company officially declared and will pay it out by next week which could lead to positivity going forward.
