The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 490,645 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 18.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,192,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 490,645 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.14% of U.S. Bancorp worth $100,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in U.S. Bancorp by 16.6% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 401,232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,348,000 after purchasing an additional 56,990 shares in the last quarter. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the second quarter worth about $20,188,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 6.4% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 276,599 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,363,000 after acquiring an additional 16,686 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 11.2% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 564,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,231,000 after acquiring an additional 56,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&G Plc grew its stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp by 73.9% during the second quarter. M&G Plc now owns 314,241 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,570,000 after acquiring an additional 133,498 shares during the last quarter. 77.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at U.S. Bancorp

In other news, insider Jodi L. Richard sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 18th. The stock was 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 $6,363,603.70. This represents a 16.15 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.23% of the company’s stock.

U.S. Bancorp Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:USB opened at $53.66 on Wednesday. U.S. Bancorp has a 12-month low of $36.49 and a 12-month high of $53.93. The company has a market capitalization of $83.71 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.02. The business has a 50 day moving average of $47.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $44.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $6.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 12.91% and a net margin of 12.92%. U.S. Bancorp’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.93 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Thursday, September 12th that allows the company to buyback $5.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

U.S. Bancorp Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is an increase from U.S. Bancorp’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.16%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stephens boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $49.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered U.S. Bancorp from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $51.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Barclays boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $52.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on U.S. Bancorp from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.02.

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.