U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Buy" by the six brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $111.50.

USPH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Citizens Jmp upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Barrington Research lowered their price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $108.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

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Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 516 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total value of $49,665.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,469 shares in the company, valued at $1,970,141.25. This represents a 2.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Physical Therapy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USPH. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy during the fourth quarter worth about $18,886,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 135.4% during the fourth quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 260,125 shares of the company's stock worth $23,076,000 after buying an additional 149,622 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 17.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 667,868 shares of the company's stock worth $56,522,000 after buying an additional 99,244 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 839,356 shares of the company's stock worth $74,459,000 after buying an additional 72,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy during the fourth quarter worth about $6,240,000.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Performance

Shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock traded up $0.05 during trading on Monday, hitting $81.31. 48,275 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 102,238. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 86.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.54. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 1-year low of $76.18 and a 1-year high of $113.63.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.04). U.S. Physical Therapy had a net margin of 3.54% and a return on equity of 8.11%. The business had revenue of $180.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.10 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that U.S. Physical Therapy will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from U.S. Physical Therapy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. U.S. Physical Therapy's dividend payout ratio is currently 97.83%.

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.