Bank of New Hampshire Has $175,000 Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Bank of New Hampshire lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $175,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates grew its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 70.8% in the 4th quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares during the period. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 222.7% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 639 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on USB. Citigroup raised U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Stephens upped their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.07.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $48.74 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.04 billion, a PE ratio of 14.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $37.81 and a twelve month high of $53.98. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $46.38.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm’s revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.