Howard Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Howard Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 72.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,528 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,548 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $743,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in 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 period. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 63,913,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,922,784,000 after purchasing an additional 15,746,852 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 3.9% in the third 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 raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 1.8% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,086,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,507,616,000 after purchasing an additional 599,852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 4.0% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,235,426 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $513,796,000 after purchasing an additional 436,252 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson upgraded shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Piper Sandler raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, January 13th. Raymond James raised shares of U.S. Bancorp from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, U.S. Bancorp currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $54.21.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE USB opened at $45.57 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $48.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.76. The company has a market capitalization of $71.08 billion, a PE ratio of 12.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.04. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $37.81 and a 12-month high of $53.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.94% and a net margin of 14.75%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.99 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.77%.

Insider Activity at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.96, for a total transaction of $3,114,246.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 209,482 shares in the company, valued at $9,837,274.72. The trade was a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total transaction of $4,821,579.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,230,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,132,431. This represents a 7.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 219,812 shares of company stock valued at $10,385,665. 0.23% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.