Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co Cuts Stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co reduced its stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 6.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 47,946 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,337 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $1,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of USB. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the first quarter valued at $92,192,000. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 313.8% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,698,642 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $105,903,000 after purchasing an additional 2,046,522 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 88.9% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,331,050 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $104,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097,179 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 16.2% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 6,941,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $310,284,000 after acquiring an additional 967,143 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 15.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,846,497 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,806,000 after acquiring an additional 925,073 shares during the period. 77.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

USB has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on U.S. Bancorp from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $43.50 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.18.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

NYSE:USB opened at $44.68 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $30.47 and a 12-month high of $47.31. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $44.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $69.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.79, a P/E/G ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $6.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.81 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 13.34% and a net margin of 12.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.12 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, Director Aleem Gillani purchased 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $44.99 per share, for a total transaction of $449,900.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $449,900. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

U.S. Bancorp Company 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.