Holocene Advisors LP Makes New $43.52 Million Investment in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 951,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,521,000. Holocene Advisors LP owned 0.06% of U.S. Bancorp as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in USB. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.4% in the third quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 4,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,000 after buying an additional 201 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 8,503 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after purchasing an additional 209 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its position in U.S. Bancorp by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 8,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $346,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Phillips Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 12,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $593,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of USB stock opened at $52.76 on Tuesday. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $37.81 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.48. The company has a market cap of $82.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.03.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a net margin of 12.92% and a return on equity of 12.91%. U.S. Bancorp’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.05 EPS. Research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. 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. U.S. Bancorp’s payout ratio is presently 61.16%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $6,363,603.70. The trade was a 16.15 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

USB has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada set a $53.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Barclays increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $52.02.

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.