U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (USPH) Downgraded by Zacks Investment Research to Hold

Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

According to Zacks, “U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. operates outpatient physical and occupational therapy clinics which provide post-operative care and treatment for a variety of orthopedic-related disorders and sports-related injuries. “

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Monday, July 24th. They issued an overweight rating and a $72.00 price target for the company. Jefferies Group LLC set a $65.00 price target on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Friday, August 4th. BidaskClub downgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Sunday, July 16th. Finally, Barrington Research upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $68.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, July 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. U.S. Physical Therapy has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $68.50.

Shares of U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE USPH) traded down 0.61% on Friday, hitting $57.50. The stock had a trading volume of 45,992 shares. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 52-week low of $51.96 and a 52-week high of $78.00. The company has a market cap of $723.41 million, a P/E ratio of 36.39 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.76 and a 200-day moving average of $65.33.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $104.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $102.93 million. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 5.65%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Physical Therapy will post $2.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.39%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.78%.

In other news, Director Bernard A. Harris, Jr. sold 5,000 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.00, for a total transaction of $310,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 26,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,638,164. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, COO Glenn Mcdowell sold 1,664 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total transaction of $99,690.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,664 shares of company stock valued at $595,810. Corporate insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 166,319.0% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,554,353 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,501,000 after buying an additional 1,553,419 shares during the period. Aberdeen Asset Management PLC UK boosted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 13.4% in the second quarter. Aberdeen Asset Management PLC UK now owns 705,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,582,000 after buying an additional 83,253 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 10.4% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 668,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,352,000 after buying an additional 63,074 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 6.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 641,533 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,892,000 after buying an additional 39,290 shares during the period. Finally, Bridge City Capital LLC purchased a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy during the second quarter valued at about $1,760,000. 95.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About U.S. Physical Therapy

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates outpatient physical therapy clinics that provide pre-and post-operative care, and treatment for orthopedic-related disorders, sports-related injuries, preventative care, rehabilitation of injured workers and neurological-related injuries.