U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Rating Increased to Buy at Citigroup

Citigroup upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report published on Monday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have $65.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $49.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 price objective on U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. DA Davidson raised their target price 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of U.S. Bancorp stock opened at $53.48 on Monday. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $36.49 and a 1 year high of $53.98. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.30. The company has a market cap of $83.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.35, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 1.02. 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 (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.16%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 153.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,949,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $374,573,000 after purchasing an additional 4,807,662 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,188 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 12.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 75,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,437,000 after acquiring an additional 8,272 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 126.1% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 44,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,050,000 after acquiring an additional 24,992 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.0% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 52,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,406,000 after acquiring an additional 2,988 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.