U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) Rating Increased to Buy at Bank of America

Bank of America upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $115.00 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $100.00.

USPH has been the subject of a number of other research reports. StockNews.com upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on U.S. Physical Therapy from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $114.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

Shares of USPH opened at $92.43 on Monday. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $90.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $89.80. U.S. Physical Therapy has a fifty-two week low of $76.18 and a fifty-two week high of $113.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.40 billion, a PE ratio of 98.33, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 1.46.

U.S. Physical Therapy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. This represents a $1.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. U.S. Physical Therapy’s payout ratio is presently 187.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 516 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total transaction of $49,665.00. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nancy Ham sold 1,172 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.72, for a total transaction of $113,355.84. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 1,112 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $107,552.64. This trade represents a 51.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 7,412 shares of company stock worth $706,605. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 37.7% in the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,924 shares of the company’s stock valued at $547,000 after buying an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 18,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after acquiring an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 18.6% in the second quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the company’s stock worth $110,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 41.4% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 2.7% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $702,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter.

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.