GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 4,117 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 12.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,117 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $1,737,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,282,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,110,115,000 after acquiring an additional 819,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,922,784,000 after purchasing an additional 15,746,852 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% in 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 buying an additional 1,796,336 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the third 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 buying an additional 599,852 shares during the period. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers increased its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% during the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $564,869,000 after buying an additional 43,437 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on USB. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup raised U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Monday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Compass Point raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.88.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $48.86 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $50.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

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

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

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total value of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.