HighTower Advisors LLC Reduces Holdings in U.S. Bancorp $USB

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 810,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 11,740 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $43,229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in USB. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3,451.9% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 4,332,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $231,191,000 after acquiring an additional 4,210,676 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 22,041,759 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,176,148,000 after buying an additional 2,610,197 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 354.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,855,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,205,000 after buying an additional 2,227,103 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 146,376,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,810,665,000 after buying an additional 1,828,404 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 11,598,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $560,559,000 after buying an additional 1,631,550 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on USB shares. Argus increased their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Friday, April 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $61.20.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of U.S. Bancorp stock opened at $54.59 on Friday. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $42.21 and a 1 year high of $61.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $84.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $54.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.63.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.14 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 18.01% and a return on equity of 13.55%. The company had revenue of $7.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.27 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.09 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, EVP Venkatachari Dilip sold 34,522 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.52, for a total value of $1,916,661.44. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 51,292 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,847,731.84. The trade was a 40.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 40,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.00, for a total transaction of $2,280,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 207,251 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,813,307. The trade was a 16.18% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Company Profile

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is a bank holding company and the parent of U.S. Bank, a national commercial bank that provides a wide range of banking, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services. The company operates through consumer and business banking, commercial banking, payment services, and wealth management segments. Its product set includes deposit accounts, consumer and commercial lending, mortgage origination and servicing, credit and debit card services, treasury and cash management, merchant processing, and institutional and trust services.

Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.