U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Brokerages

Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-four brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.43.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on USB. CLSA set a $67.50 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Monday, July 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Evercore raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, July 20th.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Gunjan Kedia sold 27,267 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The stock was 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 approximately $26,585,960.94. The trade was a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.21% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of USB. Mufg Bank LTD. bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter worth $2,680,199,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.9% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 15,820,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $822,800,000 after buying an additional 1,022,898 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 10,369,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $539,232,000 after buying an additional 93,025 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter valued at $536,457,000. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 39.9% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 8,118,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $422,261,000 after buying an additional 2,314,081 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 2.1%

NYSE:USB opened at $59.07 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $92.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.07 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 company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.15.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $8.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 18.85% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The business’s revenue was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.22 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.54 per share. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. 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. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 42.11%.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.