Amedisys has authorized a stock buyback plan of up to $100 million. The home health and hospice care provider said that it will repurchase shares through December 31, 2021.
Amedisys’ (AMED) CFO Scott Ginn said, “Given our strong cashflow and low leverage, we feel it is prudent to have authorization to buy back shares throughout the course of the year, including shares granted under the Company’s Omnibus Incentive Plan as they vest in 2021. This will become a recurring part of our capital deployment strategy; however, our first priority is and will continue to be accretive acquisitions in both Home Health and Hospice.”
Earlier in October, Amedisys reported better-than-expected 3Q results. Its adjusted earnings of $2.24 per share beat the consensus estimates of $1.27 per share. Moreover, its revenues of $544.1 million came marginally ahead of the Street’s estimates of $543.9 million. (See AMED stock analysis on TipRanks).
Meanwhile, on Nov. 3, Barclays analyst Steven Valiquette raised the stock’s price target to $298 (2.8% upside potential) from $290 and maintained a Buy rating. The analyst has a favorable outlook on the home health sector and is confident that the top companies in the sector would accelerate growth and gain market share in the post-Covid environment.
Currently, most of the Street has a bullish outlook on the stock. The Strong Buy analyst consensus is based on 7 Buys and 2 Holds. With shares up a stellar 74% year-to-date, the average price target stands at $282.89 and now implies downside potential of 2.4% to current levels.
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