Oct. 19--For most of the past two decades since it was spun off from Florida Rock Industries Inc., Patriot Transportation Holding Inc. has lived in the shadows of its former parent.

The Jacksonville-based transportation and real estate company keeps plugging along, consistently making profits. But it never came close to reaching the size of Florida Rock, the construction materials company that generated more than $1 billion in annual sales before it was sold to Vulcan Materials Co. for $4.2 billion in 2007. And Patriot, which had revenue of $172 million last year, has been virtually ignored by Wall Street.

But that's changing. After meeting with investors in New York recently, Patriot picked up its first analyst coverage last week, as Jason Ursaner of CJS Securities issued a "market perform" rating on the stock.

"There are clear indications that management is now willing to be more 'visible' with Wall Street and recently presented at two investor conferences," Ursaner wrote in his report.

"Hopefully this research report and greater exposure will broaden investor interest," he said.

It already helped, as Patriot rose as much as $4.40 to a 52-week high of $87.41 Thursday after the report. Ursaner set a 12-to-18-month price target of $100 for the stock, based on a sum-of-the parts analysis.

Ursaner found much to like about Patriot, including its "attractive financial characteristics with sufficient balance sheet strength to grow even if there is an extended period of economic weakness" and its "proven management team."

But he also noted one problem for investors: there is a limited amount of Patriot stock available for trading. The company has just a little more than 3 million shares outstanding, and CEO John Baker's family controls more than 1.3 million of them, according to Patriot's last proxy statement. Ursaner speculates that the company may increase the number of shares available with a stock split or a public secondary offering.

"Due to the limited float and trading illiquidity, we urge clients to use discipline in building positions," Ursaner wrote.

PSS rating on the rise?

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services is expecting good things from PSS World Medical Inc. when the Jacksonville-based medical supply distributor reports earnings on Oct. 28. S&P put PSS on its CreditWatch list last week with positive implications.

"The CreditWatch listing reflects our belief that the ratings on PSS could be raised shortly after the company's fiscal second-quarter earnings conference call," S&P credit analyst Jesse Juliano said in a news release.