U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 11th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

U.S. Bancorp has raised its dividend payment by an average of 4.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 14 years. U.S. Bancorp has a payout ratio of 41.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect U.S. Bancorp to earn $4.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.5%.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Down 2.4 %

NYSE USB opened at $42.21 on Friday. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $37.81 and a 12-month high of $53.98. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market cap of $65.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.02.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 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 for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 4.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Compass Point raised their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $51.00 to $45.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $62.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $60.00 to $59.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $53.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In related news, CEO Andrew Cecere sold 102,044 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.25, for a total value of $4,821,579.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,230,316 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $58,132,431. This represents a 7.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Terrance R. Dolan sold 66,317 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,837,274.72. This represents a 24.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 219,812 shares of company stock worth $10,385,665. 0.23% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On U.S. Bancorp

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in U.S. Bancorp stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 323.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,863 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $2,309,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.