Community Psychiatric Votes 3-for-2 Stock Split

Community Psychiatric Centers in Santa Ana said its board of directors approved a 3-for-2 stock split in response to a rising stock price.

Additionally, the company, an operator of psychiatric hospitals and kidney dialysis centers, said fiscal 1987 third-quarter earnings increased 21%, to $15.5 million from $12.8 million in the year-earlier period. Revenues for the quarter ended Aug. 31 were $75.4 million, up 24% from $60.8 million in the same period last year.

For the first nine months of the fiscal year, earnings totaled $46.7 million, up 16.7% from $40 million. Revenues in the period increased 20.3% to $221.4 million, contrasted with $184 million.

Chairman Robert L. Green attributed the earnings gains to an increase in the number of patients and greater operating efficiency at the company’s hospitals, which are located across the United States and in England.

The stock split, the seventh declared since the company went public in 1969, was approved to make shares more reasonably priced for investors, Green said. The stock, which closed Monday on the New York Stock Exchange at $45.125, up $1.375, has gained more than 20% in recent months.

The new shares will be issued Nov. 5 to shareholders of record Oct. 15. After the split, Community Psychiatric will have 45.8 million stock shares outstanding, compared to 30.5 million shares currently.