First Eagle Investment Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,906,403 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,288 shares during the quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 0.57% of U.S. Bancorp worth $353,584,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in USB. Redwood Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in U.S. Bancorp during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $30,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the first quarter worth about $31,000. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC increased its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 93.2% in the first quarter. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC now owns 686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

USB has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Citigroup raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.18.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE USB opened at $45.19 on Thursday. U.S. Bancorp has a 12 month low of $30.47 and a 12 month high of $47.31. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.96, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.81 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.55% and a return on equity of 13.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, Director Aleem Gillani purchased 10,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $44.99 per share, for a total transaction of $449,900.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $449,900. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.