U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) Lowered to Hold Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

USPH has been the subject of several other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Barrington Research increased their price target on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research report on Thursday, September 18th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $110.25.

U.S. Physical Therapy Trading Down 0.9%

U.S. Physical Therapy stock opened at $79.15 on Friday. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 12 month low of $62.77 and a 12 month high of $101.19. The stock has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.07 and a beta of 1.47. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $80.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.10. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 5.05%.The company had revenue of $197.34 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $190.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that U.S. Physical Therapy will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 12th. Investors of record on Friday, August 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 22nd. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 78.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Nancy Ham sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.71, for a total value of $49,026.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $162,929.74. The trade was a 23.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Christopher J. Reading sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.53, for a total transaction of $167,060.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 114,088 shares in the company, valued at $9,529,770.64. This represents a 1.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,853 shares of company stock valued at $581,406 in the last 90 days. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 952.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 90.6% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 448 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 171.8% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 443 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 35.7% during the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 71.9% during the second quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 667 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares during the last quarter.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc operates outpatient physical therapy clinics. The company operates through Physical Therapy Operations and Industrial Injury Prevention Services segments. The company provides pre-and post-operative care and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers, and neurological-related injuries.