U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Rating Increased to Buy at DA Davidson

DA Davidson upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $60.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $58.00.

USB has been the topic of a number of other reports. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays boosted their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.88.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB opened at $48.86 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.20 and a 200 day moving average of $46.16. The company has a market capitalization of $76.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 12 month low of $37.81 and a 12 month high of $53.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. The business’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 61.16%.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of USB. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 212.8% in the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 43,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,063,000 after acquiring an additional 29,340 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 36,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,737,000 after purchasing an additional 4,117 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 47.5% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 31,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Wealth Strategies & Associates raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 70.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, a financial services holding company, provides various financial services to individuals, businesses, institutional organizations, governmental entities, and other financial institutions in the United States. It operates through Wealth, Corporate, Commercial and Institutional Banking; Consumer and Business Banking; Payment Services; and Treasury and Corporate Support segments.