Stablepoint Partners LLC Acquires 578 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Stablepoint Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 2.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 29,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $1,365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 20,856 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $954,000 after purchasing an additional 823 shares in the last quarter. Paladin Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $44,000. Thomasville National Bank boosted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 3.4% during the third quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 651,185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,779,000 after purchasing an additional 21,564 shares during the last quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its position in U.S. Bancorp by 46.9% in the third quarter. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH now owns 3,941 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 9,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 369 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on USB shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $54.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. DA Davidson upped their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $43.00 to $42.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.14.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $46.53. 533,140 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,202,440. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 1.03. U.S. Bancorp has a fifty-two week low of $30.47 and a fifty-two week high of $47.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.81.

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

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.23%.

U.S. Bancorp declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Aleem Gillani purchased 10,000 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $44.99 per share, with a total value of $449,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $449,900. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company 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.