First Financial Bank Trust Division Buys 224 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

First Financial Bank Trust Division lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $1,485,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 67,282,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,110,115,000 after acquiring an additional 819,805 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,922,784,000 after purchasing an additional 15,746,852 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 47,328,880 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,164,350,000 after purchasing an additional 1,796,336 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,086,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,507,616,000 after purchasing an additional 599,852 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Davis Selected Advisers boosted its position in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% during the second quarter. Davis Selected Advisers now owns 14,228,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $564,869,000 after buying an additional 43,437 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

USB has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised U.S. Bancorp from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $54.00 to $57.00 in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Robert W. Baird set a $54.00 price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup upgraded U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $49.00 to $65.00 in a report on Monday, November 25th. Barclays upped their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stephens upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.98.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $47.86. The company had a trading volume of 6,205,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,176,125. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $37.81 and a 52-week high of $53.98. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $50.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The stock has a market cap of $74.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.03.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.05 EPS. U.S. Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.16%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Thursday, September 12th that permits the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.