U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) Position Increased by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,351 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy were worth $741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of USPH. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 9.5% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position 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 valued at $56,522,000 after acquiring an additional 99,244 shares in the last quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 10.5% in the third quarter. Southernsun Asset Management LLC now owns 547,111 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,302,000 after acquiring an additional 52,062 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 343,073 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,040,000 after acquiring an additional 4,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 18.8% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 160,441 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,578,000 after acquiring an additional 25,393 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

USPH has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barrington Research reduced 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 note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered U.S. Physical Therapy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Citizens Jmp upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America raised U.S. Physical Therapy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, U.S. Physical Therapy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $111.50.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Down 2.1 %

USPH stock opened at $79.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.65. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $76.18 and a 52-week high of $113.63. 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 released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $173.10 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 95.65%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In related news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 516 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total transaction of $49,665.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,469 shares in the company, valued at $1,970,141.25. The trade was a 2.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Physical Therapy 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.