4D Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 35,000 U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. $USPH

Key Points

• 4D Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy, purchasing 35,000 shares for approximately $2.5 million, marking the stock as 2.0% of their holdings.
• Insider transactions revealed significant sales, including Director Nancy Ham selling 400 shares and CFO Carey P. Hendrickson selling 698 shares, which slightly decreased their ownership in the company.
• U.S. Physical Therapy reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.81, exceeding estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, reflecting a 2.2% yield.

4D Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 35,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,533,000. U.S. Physical Therapy accounts for approximately 2.0% of 4D Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. 4D Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.23% of U.S. Physical Therapy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in U.S. Physical Therapy by 952.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 442 shares of the company's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 34.6% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,030 shares of the company's stock worth $75,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in U.S. Physical Therapy in the 4th quarter valued at about $84,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC acquired a new stake in U.S. Physical Therapy in the 1st quarter worth about $92,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

USPH has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barrington Research increased their target price on U.S. Physical Therapy from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Zacks Research upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Physical Therapy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $110.25.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 763 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.97, for a total transaction of $64,832.11. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 21,483 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,825,410.51. The trade was a 3.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Nancy Ham sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.01, for a total value of $31,204.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,594 shares in the company, valued at $202,357.94. This represents a 13.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 5,653 shares of company stock worth $478,334 over the last quarter. 2.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Physical Therapy Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:USPH traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $85.60. The company had a trading volume of 134,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 139,210. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $62.77 and a 1 year high of $101.19. The company has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.38, a P/E/G ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $79.79 and a 200 day moving average of $76.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.10. U.S. Physical Therapy had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The firm had revenue of $197.34 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $190.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.73 EPS. The company's revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 22nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. U.S. Physical Therapy's dividend payout ratio is 78.60%.

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.