Raymond James Upgrades U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) to “Outperform”

Raymond James upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Raymond James currently has $57.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on USB. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Compass Point increased their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Monday, November 25th. DA Davidson increased their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stephens boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.68.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of USB stock opened at $47.92 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03. 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 has a 12 month low of $37.81 and a 12 month high of $53.98. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $50.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $45.55.

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

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend 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 currently 61.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in USB. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,763,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,659,000 after purchasing an additional 75,104 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 36,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,687,000 after purchasing an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 153.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,949,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,573,000 after purchasing an additional 4,807,662 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp raised its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.5% in the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 250,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,449,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 75,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,437,000 after buying an additional 8,272 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

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.