U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.68.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday. Stephens raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Citigroup upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,282,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,110,115,000 after buying an additional 819,805 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,922,784,000 after acquiring an additional 15,746,852 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,328,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,164,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,336 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,086,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,616,000 after purchasing an additional 599,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $564,869,000 after purchasing an additional 43,437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $47.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.55. The firm has a market cap of $74.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a one year low of $37.81 and a one year high of $53.98.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Company Profile

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.