Eleven research firms covering Encompass Health have delivered a consensus recommendation of Buy, with eight Buy ratings, two Strong Buy ratings and one Hold, according to MarketBeat. The average 12-month price projection among these analysts stands at $142.86. Raymond James Financial elevated its view to Strong Buy on October 31, Barclays lifted its target from $141.00 to $150.00 and maintained an Overweight stance on October 30, and KeyCorp increased its target from $135.00 to $140.00 with an Overweight rating on September 16. Meanwhile, Wall Street Zen moved to Hold and Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a Buy (B+) rating in early October.

At year-end, the company reported a quick ratio of 1.14, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.76. Its 52-week share range is $90.67 to $127.99, with 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages of $110.79 and $117.02, respectively. Market capitalization stands at $10.35 billion, the price-to-earnings ratio is 19.45, the PEG ratio is 1.69 and beta is 0.74. Institutional ownership remains high at 97.25%, reflecting strong hedge fund interest.

In the quarter ended March 16, the company posted revenue of $136.30 million, earnings per share of $0.93, a net margin of 9.33% and a return on equity of 17.84%. Analysts project full-year EPS of approximately 4.8. A quarterly dividend of $0.19 per share (annualized $0.76) yields 0.7%, with a payout ratio of 14.37%. The fourth-quarter earnings release for the period ended December 31 will be issued after market close on February 5, followed by an investor conference call at 10 a.m. ET on February 6.