U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) Short Interest Down 15.7% in March

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 454,200 shares, a decrease of 15.7% from the February 28th total of 538,500 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the company's stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 105,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,730 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.11, for a total transaction of $142,050.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,168 shares in the company, valued at $588,564.48. The trade was a 19.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Physical Therapy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy during the fourth quarter worth about $18,886,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 135.4% during the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 260,125 shares of the company's stock worth $23,076,000 after acquiring an additional 149,622 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 667,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,522,000 after acquiring an additional 99,244 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 valued at $74,459,000 after acquiring an additional 72,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy during the fourth quarter worth $6,240,000.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USPH has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp raised U.S. Physical Therapy to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $115.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Barrington Research dropped their price target on U.S. Physical Therapy from $108.00 to $98.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered U.S. Physical Therapy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $109.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE USPH traded down $3.91 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $68.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 133,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 103,550. The company has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 73.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.37. U.S. Physical Therapy has a fifty-two week low of $68.31 and a fifty-two week high of $112.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78. The business's 50 day moving average price is $82.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.34.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $180.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.10 million. On average, analysts forecast that U.S. Physical Therapy will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from U.S. Physical Therapy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.62%. U.S. Physical Therapy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.83%.

U.S. Physical Therapy Company Profile

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.