Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Purchases Shares of 4,817 U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 5.0% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 136,513,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,513,127,000 after acquiring an additional 6,479,642 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.0% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 110,704,962 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,657,692,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307,085 shares in the last quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 54.1% during the third quarter. Mufg Bank LTD. now owns 68,374,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,260,450,000 after acquiring an additional 24,000,000 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 4.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 60,462,681 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,026,405,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300,777 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 130,768.0% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 60,273,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,628,544,000 after acquiring an additional 60,227,825 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of USB stock traded up $0.69 during trading on Thursday, reaching $44.69. 7,594,784 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,094,184. The company has a market capitalization of $69.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.66, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $41.98 and its 200 day moving average is $38.84. U.S. Bancorp has a 1 year low of $27.27 and a 1 year high of $45.85.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.28. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The business had revenue of $6.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.85 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.89 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 29th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total value of $895,005.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total transaction of $487,993.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 106,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,313,616.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,265 shares of company stock worth $2,535,903 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Compass Point raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Friday, March 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.41.

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.