West Paces Advisors Inc. Acquires 2,109 Shares of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB)

West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its stake in U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 17,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,109 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in U.S. Bancorp were worth $742,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CGC Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp during the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of U.S. Bancorp in the 3rd quarter worth $30,000. Finally, First Command Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new stake in U.S. Bancorp in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.60% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 164,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP James L. Chosy sold 21,582 shares of U.S. Bancorp stock in a transaction on Friday, February 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.47, for a total transaction of $895,005.54. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 164,880 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,837,573.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Timothy A. Welsh sold 12,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.33, for a total value of $487,993.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 106,958 shares in the company, valued at $4,313,616.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 60,265 shares of company stock worth $2,535,903 in the last three months. 0.23% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

USB has been the topic of several research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. UBS Group increased their price objective on U.S. Bancorp from $35.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Stephens cut U.S. Bancorp from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 20th. TheStreet raised U.S. Bancorp from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of U.S. Bancorp from $48.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, U.S. Bancorp presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $47.41.

U.S. Bancorp Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:USB traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.00. 9,431,468 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,703,851. U.S. Bancorp has a 52-week low of $27.27 and a 52-week high of $45.85. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $42.32 and a 200 day moving average of $39.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $63.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.05.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $0.99 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.28. U.S. Bancorp had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 13.36%. The business had revenue of $6.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that U.S. Bancorp will post 3.87 EPS for the current year.

U.S. Bancorp Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Friday, March 29th were issued a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 27th. U.S. Bancorp’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.76%.

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.