U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Shares Purchased by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,376,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 325,374 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $491,364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $4,407,000. APG Asset Management N.V. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 203.2% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 182,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,760,000 after purchasing an additional 122,300 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 414.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 572,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $22,653,000 after purchasing an additional 461,291 shares during the last quarter. AXA S.A. grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 79.2% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 90,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,607,000 after purchasing an additional 40,147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 32.0% in the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $177,000 after purchasing an additional 1,079 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Aleem Gillani bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was bought at an average price of $44.99 per share, for a total transaction of $449,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $449,900. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on USB shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $48.18.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $45.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $70.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.04. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $30.47 and a 52 week high of $47.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.39.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.55% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The company had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 earnings per share for the current year.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

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.