U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research report released on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have $57.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Oppenheimer upped their target price 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. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $53.68.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $47.92 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $74.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.65, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $37.81 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.55.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released 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. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program 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 reacquire up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.16%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of U.S. Bancorp

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in USB. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,763,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,659,000 after acquiring an additional 75,104 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.3% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 36,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,687,000 after buying an additional 488 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 153.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,949,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $374,573,000 after acquiring an additional 4,807,662 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 250,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,449,000 after acquiring an additional 1,188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 75,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,437,000 after purchasing an additional 8,272 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.