U.S. Bancorp (USB) To Go Ex-Dividend on December 31st

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 10th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, January 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

U.S. Bancorp has increased its dividend payment by an average of 4.7% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 14 years. U.S. Bancorp has a payout ratio of 46.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect U.S. Bancorp to earn $4.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 46.4%.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $48.49 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.65 billion, a PE ratio of 14.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $45.89. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $37.81 and a 1 year high of $53.98.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Compass Point increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Raymond James raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased 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 research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, 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. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $53.68.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

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.