Bank of America Upgrades U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) to “Buy”

U.S. Physical Therapy (NYSE:USPH) was upgraded by investment analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has a $115.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $100.00. Bank of America‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 21.08% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on USPH. StockNews.com raised shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $108.00 price target on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Physical Therapy from $117.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Physical Therapy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $114.00.

U.S. Physical Therapy Stock Down 0.6 %

USPH opened at $94.98 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.85. U.S. Physical Therapy has a 1-year low of $76.18 and a 1-year high of $113.63. The stock has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 101.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other U.S. Physical Therapy news, CFO Carey P. Hendrickson sold 516 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.25, for a total transaction of $49,665.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 20,469 shares in the company, valued at $1,970,141.25. This trade represents a 2.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Graham D. Reeve sold 1,724 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.29, for a total value of $166,003.96. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 7,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $684,236.74. The trade was a 19.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,412 shares of company stock worth $706,605 in the last quarter. 1.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Physical Therapy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of USPH. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 37.7% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 5,924 shares of the company’s stock worth $547,000 after acquiring an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 18,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,666,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 18.6% in the 2nd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $110,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 41.4% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $123,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of U.S. Physical Therapy by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter.

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.