U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Position Boosted by Hilltop Holdings Inc.

Hilltop Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 184.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 70,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 45,560 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $3,214,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 63.8% during the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 19,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 7,732 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in U.S. Bancorp in the second quarter valued at about $45,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 56.1% during the 2nd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 11,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 4,193 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 167,395 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,646,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 159,049 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,314,000 after buying an additional 12,570 shares in the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.03, for a total transaction of $1,225,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,363,603.70. This trade represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on USB shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Stephens raised their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.02.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $52.76 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.44 and its 200-day moving average is $44.48. The company has a market cap of $82.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 1.03. 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 has a 52-week low of $37.81 and a 52-week high of $53.98.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.04. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. The firm had revenue of $6.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication 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 is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.16%.

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.