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

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $153.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.59 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

U.S. Physical Therapy Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE:USPH traded down $2.68 on Wednesday, hitting $102.91. 35,113 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 68,376. The stock has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a PE ratio of 76.52, a PEG ratio of 4.99 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 2.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $105.26 and a 200-day moving average of $96.31. U.S. Physical Therapy has a fifty-two week low of $78.08 and a fifty-two week high of $124.11.

U.S. Physical Therapy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 5th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 12th were paid 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 yield of 1.71%. U.S. Physical Therapy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 130.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Clayton Trier sold 400 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.00, for a total value of $42,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $749,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other U.S. Physical Therapy news, EVP Richard Binstein sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.55, for a total transaction of $213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 15,006 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,598,889.30. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Clayton Trier sold 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.00, for a total value of $42,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $749,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 10,829 shares of company stock worth $1,141,535. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

USPH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barrington Research upped their price objective on 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on U.S. Physical Therapy from $99.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded U.S. Physical Therapy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $125.67.

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.