U.S. Bancorp $USB Position Boosted by Focused Alpha LLC

Focused Alpha LLC increased its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 269.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,274 shares during the period. Focused Alpha LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in USB. Financial Life Planners acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Main Street Group LTD bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Archer Investment Corp acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. Parvin Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, NFSG Corp bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $68.00 to $65.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. TD Cowen assumed coverage on U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.43.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 1.5%

NYSE:USB opened at $57.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $90.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.00. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $45.02 and a twelve month high of $66.07. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.11. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $8.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were issued a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, September 30th. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is currently 42.11%.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp news, CEO Gunjan Kedia sold 27,267 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.37, for a total value of $1,700,642.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 426,262 shares in the company, valued at $26,585,960.94. This trade represents a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Profile

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) is a financial services holding company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association. U.S. Bank provides banking, lending, payment, investment and wealth-management services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

The company’s consumer and business banking operations offer deposit accounts, mortgages, home-equity and consumer loans, credit cards, small-business banking and commercial lending.