Natixis Advisors LLC Buys 4,246 Shares of U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. (NYSE:USPH) by 18.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,346 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,246 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.18% of U.S. Physical Therapy worth $2,426,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 283.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 16,842 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,425,000 after purchasing an additional 12,445 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 57.1% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 2,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 956 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 17.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 667,868 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,522,000 after purchasing an additional 99,244 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 12.1% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 57,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,838,000 after purchasing an additional 6,154 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 1.3% during 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 period.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Physical Therapy

In other news, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,730 shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock in a transaction on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.11, for a total transaction of $142,050.30. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 7,168 shares in the company, valued at approximately $588,564.48. The trade was a 19.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.70% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on USPH. Barrington Research decreased their price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $108.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. JMP Securities began coverage on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Monday, December 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $113.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $100.00 to $115.00 in a research note on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, William Blair reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Physical Therapy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $109.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Performance

Shares of U.S. Physical Therapy stock opened at $72.52 on Monday. U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $72.27 and a fifty-two week high of $113.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.14, a P/E/G ratio of 3.54 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $180.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $173.10 million. U.S. Physical Therapy had a return on equity of 8.11% and a net margin of 3.54%. On average, equities analysts forecast that U.S. Physical Therapy, Inc. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 11th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 14th. This is a positive change from U.S. Physical Therapy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.44. U.S. Physical Therapy’s payout ratio is 97.83%.

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.