JPMorgan Chase & Co. Grows Stake in U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) by 26.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 87,501 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,484 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned 0.58% of U.S. Physical Therapy worth $7,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in USPH. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,084,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,179,000 after acquiring an additional 6,393 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $74,459,000 after purchasing an additional 72,715 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 valued at $56,522,000 after buying an additional 99,244 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 worth $29,040,000 after purchasing an additional 4,477 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 135.4% in the 4th quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 260,125 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,076,000 after buying an additional 149,622 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In related news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,730 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.11, for a total value of $142,050.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 7,168 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $588,564.48. This trade represents a 19.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on USPH. StockNews.com lowered U.S. Physical Therapy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. William Blair restated a “market perform” rating on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Barrington Research cut their price objective on U.S. Physical Therapy from $108.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $120.00 to $110.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $109.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Down 1.5 %

USPH stock opened at $68.57 on Thursday. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a one year low of $62.77 and a one year high of $108.14. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average is $77.24 and its 200 day moving average is $85.00. The firm has a market cap of $1.04 billion, a PE ratio of 72.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.38.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last issued its quarterly 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 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 analysts’ expectations of $173.10 million. On average, research analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.83%.

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.