International Assets Investment Management LLC Buys 2,688 Shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) by 9,269.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,717 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,688 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in U.S. Physical Therapy were worth $253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in USPH. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 53.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 163,956 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,040,000 after purchasing an additional 56,957 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 770,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,688,000 after purchasing an additional 49,155 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 12.1% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 384,936 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,310,000 after purchasing an additional 41,414 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 227,704 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,887,000 after purchasing an additional 19,661 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,036,203 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,051,000 after purchasing an additional 17,156 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on USPH. Barrington Research boosted their price objective on U.S. Physical Therapy from $120.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on U.S. Physical Therapy from $99.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.28, for a total transaction of $193,104.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,186 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,272,834.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 2,629 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.39, for a total transaction of $274,441.31. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,902 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,499.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 1,800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.28, for a total value of $193,104.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 21,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,272,834.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 10,829 shares of company stock worth $1,141,535. 1.80% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

U.S. Physical Therapy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE USPH opened at $100.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 74.53, a P/E/G ratio of 4.76 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.43. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $78.08 and a twelve month high of $124.11.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The company reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $154.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $150.24 million. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 4.67%. The company’s revenue was up 9.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.58 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were given a dividend of $0.44 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 11th. This is a positive change from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.75%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio is 130.37%.

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.