U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) to Issue $0.45 Dividend

U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) declared a dividend on Wednesday, February 26th, NASDAQ Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share on Friday, April 11th. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th.

U.S. Physical Therapy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.4% per year over the last three years. U.S. Physical Therapy has a payout ratio of 55.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect U.S. Physical Therapy to earn $2.93 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.76 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 60.1%.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

U.S. Physical Therapy stock traded down $5.47 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $82.25. 275,173 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 97,149. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $88.41 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.67. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 87.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.48. U.S. Physical Therapy has a one year low of $76.18 and a one year high of $113.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a current ratio of 1.78.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $180.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $173.10 million. On average, equities analysts predict that U.S. Physical Therapy will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on USPH. Bank of America upgraded shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $100.00 to $115.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Citizens Jmp raised shares of U.S. Physical Therapy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on U.S. Physical Therapy from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $108.00 target price on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, U.S. Physical Therapy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $114.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other U.S. Physical Therapy news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 516 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total value of $49,665.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 20,469 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,970,141.25. This trade represents a 2.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

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.