U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.07 EPS

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.07), Briefing.com reports. U.S. Physical Therapy had a net margin of 4.67% and a return on equity of 8.52%. The company had revenue of $155.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $153.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. U.S. Physical Therapy’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Performance

Shares of USPH traded down $2.38 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $103.21. The stock had a trading volume of 36,173 shares, compared to its average volume of 68,398. The firm has a market cap of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.52, a PEG ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $105.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $96.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.28. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 52 week low of $78.08 and a 52 week high of $124.11.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid a $0.44 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 1.71%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s payout ratio is presently 130.37%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 2,629 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.39, for a total value of $274,441.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,902 shares in the company, valued at $720,499.78. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 1,800 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 21,186 shares in the company, valued at $2,272,834.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 2,629 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.39, for a total value of $274,441.31. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 6,902 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,499.78. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,829 shares of company stock worth $1,141,535 over the last ninety days. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.