Washington Trust Bank Lowers Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Washington Trust Bank lowered its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 167,837 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,707 shares during the period. Washington Trust Bank’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $7,675,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. McAdam LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2.5% during the third quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 8,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $389,000 after buying an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the second quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $346,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 2.1% during the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 12,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $593,000 after buying an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 1.9% during the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 13,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 0.4% during the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 65,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 1.4 %

USB stock traded down $0.74 on Thursday, hitting $50.52. 284,152 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,305,860. U.S. Bancorp has a twelve month low of $33.61 and a twelve month high of $51.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.02.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.05 earnings per share. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.96%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is 61.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Thirteen equities research 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, U.S. Bancorp has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $51.12.

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.