U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.21.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on USB shares. 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 report on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Raymond James raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Piper Sandler upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, January 13th.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total value of $4,821,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,230,316 shares in the company, valued at $58,132,431. This trade represents a 7.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total value of $3,114,246.32. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 209,482 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,837,274.72. This trade represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter valued at about $777,524,000. FMR LLC raised 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 purchasing an additional 15,746,852 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 48.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,787,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $802,947,000 after purchasing an additional 5,449,949 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 153.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,949,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,573,000 after buying an additional 4,807,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 414.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 5,789,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $276,915,000 after buying an additional 4,663,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $42.21 on Tuesday. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $37.81 and a 1 year high of $53.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $65.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.57.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.01. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. The company had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.99 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 52.77%.

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.