Encompass Health Co. (NYSE:EHC) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.17

Encompass Health Co. (NYSE:EHC) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.17 per share on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd.

Encompass Health has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 18.8% per year over the last three years. Encompass Health has a payout ratio of 14.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Encompass Health to earn $4.63 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.7%.

Encompass Health Price Performance

EHC opened at $96.90 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.35, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Encompass Health has a 12 month low of $57.55 and a 12 month high of $98.74. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $92.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.67.

Encompass Health (NYSE:EHC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The company reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $1.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.30 billion. Encompass Health had a net margin of 7.88% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.95 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Encompass Health will post 4.18 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

EHC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Encompass Health from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp assumed coverage on shares of Encompass Health in a research note on Friday, October 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $115.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Encompass Health from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Encompass Health to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Encompass Health from $95.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 26th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $104.67.

Encompass Health declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, July 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 5.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Encompass Health

In other Encompass Health news, CFO Douglas E. Coltharp sold 12,260 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.34, for a total value of $1,058,528.40. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 136,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,761,839.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

About Encompass Health

Encompass Health Corporation provides post-acute healthcare services in the United States and Puerto Rico. It owns and operates inpatient rehabilitation hospitals that provide medical, nursing, therapy, and ancillary services. The company provides specialized rehabilitative treatment on an inpatient basis to patients who have experienced physical or cognitive disabilities or injuries due to medical conditions, such as strokes, hip fractures, and various debilitating neurological conditions.