Short Interest in Encompass Health Co. (NYSE:EHC) Increases By 6.3%

Encompass Health Co. (NYSE:EHC) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,350,000 shares, a growth of 6.3% from the December 15th total of 1,270,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 649,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Currently, 1.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in Encompass Health by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 13,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,232,000 after acquiring an additional 1,981 shares during the last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH increased its stake in Encompass Health by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH now owns 302,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,915,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in Encompass Health by 87.8% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 293 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Encompass Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $380,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Encompass Health in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $374,000. 97.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on EHC. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and issued a $116.00 price objective (up previously from $108.00) on shares of Encompass Health in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Encompass Health from $109.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on shares of Encompass Health from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Encompass Health from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Encompass Health from $115.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Encompass Health currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $107.11.

Encompass Health Stock Performance

Shares of EHC traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $94.68. 471,076 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 545,259. Encompass Health has a 52 week low of $69.76 and a 52 week high of $104.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $97.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.06. The firm has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

Encompass Health (NYSE:EHC) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The company reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $1.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.33 billion. Encompass Health had a net margin of 8.10% and a return on equity of 17.60%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.86 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Encompass Health will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Encompass Health Company Profile

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.