Steph & Co. Lowers Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Steph & Co. cut its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 45.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,573 shares during the quarter. Steph & Co.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 130,768.0% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,273,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,628,544,000 after acquiring an additional 60,227,825 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 54.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. now owns 68,374,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,260,450,000 after buying an additional 24,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 266.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC now owns 23,467,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $775,842,000 after buying an additional 17,066,479 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the 4th quarter worth $644,436,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,513,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,513,127,000 after buying an additional 6,479,642 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB traded down $1.48 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $39.52. The company had a trading volume of 14,001,830 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,780,718. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.34 and its 200 day moving average is $39.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $61.58 billion, a PE ratio of 12.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $27.27 and a twelve month high of $45.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.28. The company had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.85 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.20 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 29th were paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.76%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on USB. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Stephens downgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 106,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,313,616.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,265 shares of company stock valued at $2,535,903 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp 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.