NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $37.34 Million Stock Position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

NFJ Investment Group LLC cut its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 12.6% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 816,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 117,913 shares during the quarter. U.S. Bancorp accounts for about 1.1% of NFJ Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. NFJ Investment Group LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $37,339,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,635 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $529,000 after buying an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in U.S. Bancorp by 5.9% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 31,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario grew its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 49.6% in the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 51,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,371,000 after purchasing an additional 17,200 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 267.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 19,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $871,000 after purchasing an additional 13,849 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 229.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 845,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,671,000 after purchasing an additional 588,999 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Price Performance

Shares of NYSE USB traded down $0.34 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.43. The company had a trading volume of 553,487 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,262,740. The firm has a market cap of $81.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $48.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.48. U.S. Bancorp has a one year low of $37.81 and a one year high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on USB shares. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other U.S. Bancorp news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’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 value of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Bancorp 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.