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

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,730 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.11, for a total transaction of $142,050.30. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $588,564.48. The trade was a 19.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,084,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,179,000 after buying an additional 6,393 shares in the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 9.5% in the fourth quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 839,356 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,459,000 after purchasing an additional 72,715 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 667,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,522,000 after purchasing an additional 99,244 shares during the last quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC lifted its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 571,809 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,725,000 after purchasing an additional 24,698 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 426,298 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,818,000 after purchasing an additional 7,890 shares during the period.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

Shares of USPH traded down $3.82 on Thursday, hitting $68.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 81,980 shares, compared to its average volume of 103,372. The company has a market capitalization of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 73.20, a PEG 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 50 day moving average price of $82.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last announced 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 return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 3.54%. The business had revenue of $180.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $173.10 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that U.S. Physical Therapy will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is an increase from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s payout ratio is currently 97.83%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on USPH shares. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $113.00 price objective for the company. Barrington Research dropped their price target 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. Bank of America raised U.S. Physical Therapy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered U.S. Physical Therapy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Citizens Jmp raised U.S. Physical Therapy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, U.S. Physical Therapy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $109.00.

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.