IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd Raises Holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd raised its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 69,505 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,943 shares during the quarter. IQ EQ FUND MANAGEMENT IRELAND Ltd’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $3,178,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 135,371,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,051,096,000 after purchasing an additional 502,776 shares during the last quarter. Davis Selected Advisers boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $564,869,000 after purchasing an additional 43,437 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,312,930 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $528,523,000 after buying an additional 94,841 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 12,376,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,364,000 after buying an additional 325,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,478,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $376,295,000 after buying an additional 271,078 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $49.21 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.58. The stock has a market cap of $76.78 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a 52 week low of $30.47 and a 52 week high of $50.11.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 12.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.12 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Citigroup raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $49.14.

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.