U.S. Bancorp (USB) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Wednesday

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) will be releasing its earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, October 16th. Analysts expect U.S. Bancorp to post earnings of $0.99 per share for the quarter. Investors that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 12.55%. The firm had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.12 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect U.S. Bancorp to post $4 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

USB opened at $44.26 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock has a market cap of $69.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $30.47 and a 1 year high of $47.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.46.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is 66.23%.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, Director Aleem Gillani purchased 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $44.99 per share, with a total value of $449,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $449,900. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

USB has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.50 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. StockNews.com upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.65.

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.